Encaged in Ice
by Kage Youkai
Summary: A long time ago, almost forgotten in time, a shogun encaged all the most beautiful women in ice. Little did he know, he trapped a ledgend. Naruto Inuyasha Crossover
1. Encaged In Ice

_**They say that long ago the great shogun teamed himself with an ice demon and demanded all the beautiful women from every town. Ledgend has it, the women were frozen to serve as statues for the royal court. Angered and outraged by the Shogun's terrible actions, the people revolted. The shogun's catsle was destroyed, for the ferocity of the people was unmatched, even by the honorable samurai.**_

_**But one statue survived the castle's collapse. The most famous statue of them all. **_

_**The statue contains three beautiful women. Around two of these women rests a terrible ledgend. A tale of love, happiness, tradgedy, friendship and courage. A tale of a jewel and a well. A tale of treachery and betrayal. The tale of the Shikon no Tama. Most fools with half a brain have atleast heard of the jewel, and those who were a little smarter know the terrible story. It all started with the preistess Midoriko...**_

"Sakura!" A voice called, and the pink haired ninja looked up from her book, startled. "Naruto?" she asked, turning slightly red from embarrasment. "We have to go meet Kakashi-sensei, and Gai-sensei have had a team-up mission. We gotta hurry! Hokage has discovered something!" he yelled, running away. Ever since Orochimaru, Sakura and Naruto had grown closer, after Sasuke dissapeared. Thankfully they saved Sasuke, but only for the time being.

When they arrived, Gai and Kakashi were speaking to their teams. "Ah, Naruto, Sakura, nice of you to join us." Kakashi greeted. Neji, Tenten, Lee and Sasuke simply said faint "hello"s and "hey"s and "what the hell took you so long?"s

"So, what has the Hokage found?" Sakura asked. "A statue of ice. In it is three girls around your ages. (Sakura, Sasuke Naruto are 15, Neji, Tenten and Lee are 16)" Sakura's eyes widened and she opened the book. A picture of the statue was on one of the ancient pages. It was stunning and feirce. Each of the girls seemed to have seen their fate coming and as soon as they launched attacks, they were frozen.

"Well, hurry it up then!" Sakura said, with a new determination. She wanted to see for herself if ledgends were true.

"Oh my god." Sakura gasped. There in front of her stood the beautiful statue. One of the women had just thrown a giant boomerang and another had just shot an arrow that glowed a brilliant pink. The last woman was in midair, claws ready to tear through flesh, an angry look on her face. "It's really the statue from the story..." she whispered, and all eyes were drawn to her. "What do you mean, Sakura?" Naruto asked, and Sakura pulled out the ancient book. "It's from the ledgend..." she whispered again in awe. Walking up, she touched the statue, and was shocked to find it was slowly melting. "Someone use a fire Jutsu." she said, dazedly. Sasuke nodded and the flames licked away the ice. The first to be freed from the ice was the girl in midair. She fell with a quiet thump, landing in a crouch. White hair cascaded down, and deep blue eyes glanced around wearily. Next came the boomerang and the woman who released it. The boomerang collapsed with a loud bang, and the woman took out a katana and glared suspisiousy at the group of ninja. She had fierry brown eyes and long brown hair. Last came the archer and the glowing arrow. She stared at the group levely, then looked around.

"We aren't in Sengoku Jidai anymore, are we?" she asked, startling the whole group into stunned silence.


	2. Konohakagure, Demons and Favors

"SENGOKU JIDAI!" the ninja's voices chimed loudly. "You're from 500 years ago!" Naruto said, shocked.

"Maybe?" answered the archer.

"Sure?" answered the boomerang user.

"Er..." answered the white haired girl.

The three looked to eachother, shrugged and said, "Guess so..." But two of them had a little problem with this.  
"500 years? Kagome, we're in your time!" said the boomerang girl. The white haired one raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Is this some kind of twisted joke?" she asked.

"Nope!" Naruto replied happily. "Maybe we should introduce ourselves..." the archer suggested.

"Nezhul Qwan. Bounty Hunter." the white haired woman stated.

"Sango. Demon slayer." the boomerang girl introduced with a wave.

"I'm Kagome Higurashi! Miko in training!" the archer introduced happily.

"Sasuke." "Neji" "Sakura!" "Naruto!" "Tenten!" "Rock Lee!" "Kakashi" "Gai" they all introduced.

"So...where the hell are we?" Sango asked. "Konohakagure!" Naruto answered. "Konohakawha?" Nezhul asked.

"Just call it Konoha." Neji suggested. Nezhul shrugged and Kagome's eyes shot to Naruto.

"Demon." she whispered, and imediatly the girls were in defensive positions. The ninja's immediatly followed suit, and a tense silence soon followed.

_'Watch.'_

_'Wait.'_

_'Pounce!'_

It was as if a silent gun shot was fired, for the battle began. Kagome and Sango loosed their weapons, and while Sango waited for her weapon to return she pulled out her Katana as Kakashi attacked her. As Hiraikotsu returned, it hit Kakashi and Sango smirked down at him. But then she noticed him moving his hands in weird positions. "The hell...?" she muttered then hollered as she was thrown by some strange force into a wall. Kagome was using daggers against Sasuke, but he had an advantage. That is...until she began to pour miko ki into the attacks. She threw him back with a powerful blast, but accidently tired herself out. Nezhul was fairing fine against Neji, using her extreme speed to her advantage. It came from being a Bounty Hunter and having to chase their prey. She used strange weapons, though. A large but extremely thin sword, so thin that it bent and swayed as she swung it, almost like a silver whip. Her other weapon was a flute, silver and beautifully crafted, but enchanted so that she could extend it into a wicked pole. She noticed Sango pinned to the wall, and Kakashi holding her there. "Hey, miko! Free your freind! I'll take care of him!" she yelled before tackling Sasuke, giving Kagome time to jump Kakashi and thwack him in the head with her bow, completely throwing off his concentration. Sango was freed and rushed to her boomerang, flinging it at Sasuke who had just thrown Nezhul a good twenty feet into a wall. In other words, it was chaos. Neji had teamed up with Tenten and Gai to take down Nezhul, Sasuke pinned Kagome, and Kakashi, Sakura and Naruto had to stop Sango.

"Why are you after Naruto? Did another village send you?" Sakura questioned. "Uh...we just got freed from a 500 year imprisonment. _By you,_ I might add. Where the hell did you get that crackhead idea?" Nezhul answered, causing Sakura to turn red. "Er, sorry she was so rude." Kagome whispered to Sakura. "She's just blunt." Sango added. "**_Really blunt._**" they both said, trying to prove their point.

"I can _hear _you." Nezhul said. "We weren't being secretive!" Kagome said cheerfully and everyone sweatdropped.

"Well, you guys have fought demons before...right?" Kakashi asked.

"Yeah, why?" Sango asked.

"We need your help." Kakashi simply answered.


	3. Kakashi's Proposal, Sango's Plan!

_"Forever shall the frozen heart remain, Forevermore encaged in ice."_

"We need your help" Kakashi simply answered. The girls stared blankly. All of a sudden there was a loud "Ow, what the hell?" as they saw Nezhul slip, breaking the tension as the girls giggled and Naruto flat out laughed. "So, what do you need help with?" Kagome, ever friendly, asked.

"A nine tailed fox and a creepy snake dude?" Kagome asked, disbelieving. "Oh shit then. We're screwed. Nine tailed foxes are fucking huge!" Nezhul said, shaking her head. Sango seemed to be pondering something. "Maybe not. Your ninja, right?" she asked, and continued after they nodded. "And you use Chakra, that comes from the mind and body. Maybe if we learned a little more about ninja, perhaps being trained a little, we could figure out a way to combine chakra with what we know." Sango said. "We'd be happy to train you." Kakashi said, grinning under his mask. "Alright then. I'm in!" Kagome said happily. Sango quickly agreed, and everyone looked to Nezhul, who had the 'You're all crazy' look on her face. Then, unexpectedly, she grinned. "Aw, what the hell. I'll do it." She said. "But before they start training us, how about we test 'em?" She asked. Sango agreed and Kagome didn't seem to care. "I want to test strength." Sango stated. "Aim." Kagome claimed. Nehzul grinned devilishly. "_Speed_." and just the way she said it made the nin nervous.

Next day, The Girls Test!

"Okay, since speed and strength will use up a lot of energy, we decided to start with Strength, take a break, do aim, take a break, then speed. Ready?" Sango asked the ninja's. They nodded and she began. First task was to do pull-ups without weight, then twenty pounds, then 50, then 100. Then they'd kick a tree until it broke. By the time they were done, they were miserably sore. Aim was fairly easy, but their arms had begun to tremble from firing off so many arrows. So, they moved to the only event where the teacher interacted with student.

"I want you to try and catch me. Demons are 10 times faster than the fastest average human runner. Being a bounty hunter, I've had to run from, as well as chase many demons. If you catch me, then I won't stick you through as rigorous training as I will the slackers. Ready?" She said, before she jumped into a tree and dissapeared. The nin desperatly chased her, but it was hopeless. She was halfway across the forrest already, gaining speed as she went.

All the nin, (Sakura, Sasuke, Kakashi, Neji, Gai, Tenten and Lee) were exhausted when they made it back, the chase stopping inutes before as Nezhul appeared and called them slow, telling them that it had been enough.

Soon they'd be starting the training on the three girls.

END!

Ok, need help. The pairings so far are:

Kagome/Sasuke

Kakashi/Sango

Who should I pair Nezhul with?

It should be the fastest nin, but who is the fastest?

HELP!

(After I find Nezhul's pairing, it'll be much easier to update as I can improvise pairings from there.)


	4. Get Down To It, No Warriors Perfect!

"GET UP! WE GET TO TRAIN YOU TODAY!" Naruto yelled in Kagome's ear. Kagome, on instinct, sat up and slapped him with all her strength, sending the poor nin flying. He quickly recovered and walked over to Sango's bed. As he leaned over, her eyes snapped open and she pulled out a hidden knife, holding it to Naruto's juggular. Realizing who it was, she smiled sheepishly and watched as he recovered and went to Nezhul's bed. "WAKE UP!" he yelled. Her eyes flew open and she jumped up, headbutting Naruto expertly and jumping away, landing almost doint the splits, one hand on the floor supporting her, the other with a knife drawn. "Oh, Naruto, it's you...Shouldn't do that to sleeping people..." she yawned, putting her knife away then promptly fell back asleep. Sango scratched her head nervously. "How do we wake her up?" She asked, not liking Naruto's wicked grin. He told them to be ready to run and began a water jutsu, splashing Nezhul and jolting her awake.

"So, what should we do?" Kagome asked, trying to figure out their explanation. "Focus your energy to one point, then form the hand signals we taught you. It should take care of the jutsu on it's own basically." Kagome sweatdropped. "Last time I focused my energy, it blew up the demon..." she said. "Just try." Kakashi said. Kagome focused her energy, glowing a light purple then formed the jutsu. She was amazed to she she had actually managed the jutsu, even if only a little. Sango and Nezhul were also having troubles. Sango couldn't find her Chakra because unlike Kagome and Nezhul she had no strange powers, so she wasn't used to focusing energy. Nezhul counldn't get the jutsu, and was getting somewhat frusterated as she kept firing of blasts of blue energy at the forrest. Kagome found that she was actually doing the best out of all of them. Finally she saw Sango glow magenta and she sighed in relief as she saw her energy finally surface. A huge blast of blue energy flew and tore down a large amount of trees. "Heh heh..." they saw Nezhul stumble as she looked a little dazed, and finally fall. Kagome almost shouted but was relieved that she was caught by Neji. "What the hell?" Kagome asked. Kakashi grinned sheepishly. "She cast the jutsu, but she had been so frusterated she poured too much energy into it. Keep going you two, she'll be fine in a second or two. Actually, I want to do partner training. Since we only have Jounin today, as in Sasuke, Neji and I, (The others have to train) It'll be fine. Sasuke, take Kagome, Sango come with me, Neji, wait for her to wake up. Let's go!"

"Er...are you sure I can do this?" Kagome asked nervously. Sasuke nodded silently and Kagome closed her eyes. "Get a feel for your surrounding." Sasuke had instructed. Kagome closed her eyes. "Try to picture the forrest like you saw it a couple of seconds ago. Now listen and picture where you hear all the noises." Sasuke instructed. Kagome sat and listened, and gradually she was able to picture the movement of the forrest as she listened to the sounds. "I can see it." she said quietly, still concentrating. "Now, I'm going to throw sticks at you, we'll start with something easy, then move to rocks, punches, and eventually Kunai. Try to block or dodge." he said, throwing the first stick. It hit Kagome in the leg, as she move a little too late. He began to throw more and she got better and better, but slowly.

"Alright, let's see...I want you to concentrate your energy into your hands, seeing as energy is your weak point. Then I want you to punch the tree using chakra, and break it." Kakashi instructed. "Er..." Sango said as she searched herself for her energy. She began to glow magenta again and began concentrating on moving the energy to her hands, but she failed and ended up making a small explosion. "Again until you get it right." Kakashi said.

"Since your frustration is the main reason you screw up in concentration, I want you to work on this puzzle. You will not eat nor sleep nor advance until you finish it." Neji said tossing her a Rubix Cube. She began to try and work it out, and was to the point she was pulling out her hair in frustration. "Frustration breaks concentration. Try harder and concentrate!" Neji said.

All the girls shared a simeltaneous thought: _"This'll be hell."_

It was two day later, and true to his word, Neji had not allowed Nezhul to eat or sleep. He claimed that the setbacks of hunger and drowsiness would also improve concentration, so didn't bother doing anything that would make the poor girl cry tears of joy and let her sleep or eat. She would have blown the damned thing up if Neji hadn't threatened her.

Sango had managed to break the tree...and unfourtunaly two fingers. She hadn't used her chakra right and punched the tree hard as she could. Kagome ended up with welts cuts and bruises from having sticks and rocks chucked at her constantly. Nezhul came into the hospital half passed out from exhaustion with the hugeest grin on her face, Neji a few feet behind making sure she didn't pass out. Sango was getting her fingers wrapped up with Kakashi reading Icha Icha Paradise in the waiting room. Kagome was being checked for infections as Sasuke stared into space, or..._glared _into space. Nezhul collapsed with the complete Rubix Cube in her hands, laughing nonstop as tears rolled down her cheeks. "Why are you crying?" Neji asked irritably. "I don't know!" Nezhul snapped between giggles and sobs. Neji shook his head as the nurses walked over. "I think she snapped." He stated. "How long has she been awake?" The taller nurse asked. "Ehm... 72 hours I think...?" Neji answered. "Well no wonder! Has she eaten anything?" she asked. "Eh heh...no." he answered. "A person is deemed legally drunk after staying up 24 hours. 72 without food is considered insanity." the woman said, marveling at Nezhul who had stopped making noise and fell backwards head first, passing out and cracking her head open. "Eh heh heh...oh shit."

END!

Ain't no way I'm making the training easy for them. You can't learn something that takes most people years to learn over the span of one chapter. It needs to be hardcore training, enough to kill a normal person. I cna't stand those stories that say "She learned every weapon in three months." no way that's gonna happen. Your going to have problems. Sango has never comunicated power/energy/chakra into her style or practice. Kagome isn't the best warrior in the world, Nezhul can't really do much of anything cause she lacks concentration in the Ninja field. Their each used to their own fighting style and basically need to throw years of learing down the drain because what they learned is to slay demons, not be a ninja. It's completely different and both take a lot of work. The moves theyuse are different, the trainig, the energy and the weapons. It isn't going to be easy!

Anyway, Hope you all enjoyed, I'll start a new chapter soon.


	5. All Play and No Work!

"Er...Kagome, Sango, want to get some Ice Cream? Nezhul is still training, Neji is a little strict, so she'll not be done for a while. If I don't find something to do Naruto will want me to go to the Ramen Shop with him. Please?" Sakura asked. "Can't resist Icecream!" Kagome said. Sango just shrugged, not really knowing what icecream was.

"Oh dear kami! It's delicious!" Sango exclaimed licking her icecream. She had already downed one, and this was her second. "Sango, carefuloryou'll get..." "Ow...my head..." "...Brainfreeze. That's enouhg for you. Let's see if we can find Nezhul and then go home kay?" Kagome asked. Sango nodded.

"What?" Nezhul asked, too tired to function. "Do you have training tomorrow?" Kagome asked. "Yeah, we're going on some stupid mission. He's trying to kill me. He hate's me I swear." Nezhul said. They had improved considerably, and were now able to go on minor missions. Sango could use her chakra, Kagome could fight pretty damn well, and Nezhul could actually concentrate without blowing things up. "Er...Kagome, we're all going on missions tomorrow to train, remember?" Sango asked. Kagome paused then grinned to hide her blush. "Oops."

Kagome was woken up at the crack of dawn and forced out of her room by an angry Sasuke. She wasn't really thinking straight as she was still half asleep so she stumbled a little. "I feel like I'm in boot camp." She muttered sleepily. Sasuke practically shoved her into her closted telling her to pack and hurry up. She was used to waking up in a moments notice so she packed everything she'd need and was out quickly. They began to trek into the forrest.

Sango was shocked to find that someone was shaking her. "Ne, Kakashi-sensei...what the hell are you doing?" she asked groggily. "We have the mission." he said. Years of fighting demons payed off and Sango woke easily and began to pack. They were out the door in minutes heading for the ocean lands.

Nezhul screamed as water splashed down on her and she glanced up to see an angry Neji staring down at her. "What'd you do that for!" she yelled, standing up. "You have a mission for training, dumbass." he said. Nezhul turned red. "You're such a jerk, you know that! You could've just shaken me." she said, and pouted, crossing her arms over her chest. "Yes, but this was funner." he said, leaving the room. Nezhul huffed and started to pack.

The two were off to the mountains!

"Hey Sasuke, what's the mission?" Kagome asked. "1 month full of rigrous training." he said and Kagome sweatdropped. "Sounds like...fun..." she said. "Yes, tons of fun." he responded sarcastically.

"How the hell was I supposed to know!" Sango yelled as she and Kakashi argued over the food...or lack there of. Apparently, she was supposed to pack the food. "Aren't you the teacher? Next time think ahead, dammit!" Sango yelled.

"So, it's that mountain? Let's have a race then!" Nezhul declared, and before Neji could protest, she was already speeding off. "Damn that woman." he said, begining to run as well.

Eh heh, that's it for this chapter. Next Chapter will focus on Kagome and Sasuke, the chapter after that Sango and Kakashi, the Nezhul and Neji. Remember, if you'd prefer Nezhul to be with someone else, tell me. I can just hae Neji and her to have a strong friendship.

ALSO! I want you guys to e-mail me questions you want to ask th characters, and I'll interview them in separate sections of the story. It sounds stupid but it might be fun seeing what the characters answer. Just make sure to tell me what character your asking. Example:

Kage Youkai asks:

"Nezhul, offstage last week you practiced an attack that blew up half the stage. Do you plan on paying for that?"

Nezul glanced at the blown up stage nervously, then chuckled. "I think the real question here Kage, is do _you_ plan on paying me for being in this fic?" She asked. Kage sweatdropped. "That's all folks! Enjoy! And ask questions for and character. It can even be "Will you marry me?" to your favorite guy/girl. See ya!"


	6. Answers! and Questions!

Eh, gomen ne, my dear and beloved readers, but I have some problems...

1. A mild case of writers block.

2. I have other priorities currently.

3. I'm not at home most the time.

4. I lost all of the e-mail questions you sent me. I'm tryong to recover them though. (I kinda know how, don't worry.)

BUT! I will have the characters anser the questions I did recover.

To answer ancient-relic,

You asked how I came up with Nezhul...

Unlike some authors, I don't base my characters on people I know. If you've read my other stories, each OC has a distinct personality. From Mio's (Heads will roll) sarcastic and rude personality to Kita's (never call the mercenary hot/sexy) somewhat phsychopathic sweet heart, each character is different. Nezhul is sorta laid back and silly, something most girls my age find in themselves. Not really serious, but can be intimadating when she is. Most of my characters may have something people can realate too, but they are also on a tottaly different level, so, in my opinion, that's why peope grow attached to them. I certainly grew attatched to my characters, and Killing off some of them was depressing.

Which reminds me, have you guys grown attached to Nezhul yet?

Oh and does this answer your question? I Usually find something people can relate to, (Like Kita and moodswings, and Nezhul and her fun carefree personality) and twist it into something a little more interesting and complex, mixing those personality traits with others. And how she looks...I like white hair and snowy hair.

To Some Random Pocky Stick:

Sango and Kagome met Nezhul when they were captured and taken to the shogun. They only knew eachother for a week or so before their untimley imprisionment.

To Kakashi LOVER!

Kakasi will answer your question.

Kakashi walks out and reads the question, then sweatdrops. "I knew this was coming. Hey, what can I say, I'm quite the ladies man. Sorry, Maria, but...I'm taken. Sango and I are engaged. Isn't that right?" he asked. "What the hell are you talking abou...oh." she said seeing him wink. She giggled nervously. "Er...yes. we're very much in love." she said., elbowing Kakashi when he wrapped an arm around her.

To neko-cat-kirara

You asked Kagome who she thought was hotter, Sasuke or Naruto.

"Eh, they're both fine, though Sasuke's voice sounds too old for a 12 yr old in the series, and he can be a jerk. BUT! Naruto is a little anoying with his damn "BELIVE IT!" crap, and he never seems to open his eyes. WTF? But to answer your question...My brain hurts from thinking too much. It's a tie! Because personality matters just as much as looks and sometime's they're both idiots while other times they can be noble and good people, who seem to have atleast half a brain. Honestly, watching them bicker so much can kill brain cells though. I swear." Kagome gave a long and thoughtful answer, staring at the ceiling instead of the cuecards in the back of the room. "THAT WASN'T YOUR LINE!" a short green haired muse screamed at her. Kage sighed. "I need a better crew."

Oh and another thing, Someone said that Sasuke should be with Nezhul and we should shove Kagome with someone else. I dunno though, so I want your opinions. SasukeKagome IS an overly used pairing, and when it somes to Kag pairings, people like Shikamaru, Kiba, or Neji. (I threw that one in there. If this change does happen, he should have a chance with her.)

Oh and also, I want to ask some questions.

I need to know about the personalities of Shino and Kiba. I think I might want to throw one of them with Nezhul, cause I want her to meet Shino and be deathly afraid of bugs. Or... i dunno. I want to switch pairing though for nezhul, atleast. If you think she should be paired up with Shino or Kiba, please make sure to give me a description of their personalities. Remember, a push in the right direction might help me get over my writers block. Or if she should stick with neji, I don't know. I need help. (Oooh, and I saw a really hot picture of Shino without his glasses on. Damn he was HOTT! )

Oh, and another, Twilight Sazuka (I think it was u, might have been Tenshi-battosai) pm'd me some questions.

(No offense if u guys didn't ask this, and some one else did. These were just the names to pop into mind.)

Kagome, how will u handle Sasuke without the sit necklace?

Kagome grins wickedly while everyone within sight gulps. "I have my ways." she said simply, and the gleam in her eyes makes you wonder what those ways are. (Shudders) Scary.

Then asked Sango what happened to Miroku.

"(Sniffles) He's probably dead. I mean, there was the wind tunnel, and it _has_ been 500 years. I got captured with Kagome when we were bathing in the hotsprings, so I don't really know. I miss the perv though. I think Kakashi might be his reincarnation or something. I swear, offstage they act the exact same sometimes." she shuddered and a dazed look came over her eyes. "All those poor innocent girls..." she muttered.

Sorry, I forgot what the last question had been. Go ahead and ask again, or ask another question. This game can go through the whole fanfic, if I keep getting questions.

Oh, and the sooner u help me with my previous dillema. (The nezhul pairing thing) the sooner I can update. I have little doubt that that will help boot the block. (Writers block.) remember, Nezhul doesn't _have _to be paired with Neji, though it may seem like that's the direction it's heading. One small thing can make or brake a potential relationship, so they could just end up as good friends, or with a brotherly/sisterly bond. So, review quickly and help me out. I want to screw around with the pairings a little before I completely devote myself to one. So, I do need help with the final pairing, something you guys think would be interesting, and funny. (I could make Nezhul a cat person and afraid of bugs, so she would have to adjust and 'prove her love.' ) and if you want Kagome to be paired with someone else, that can easily work too. I NEED UR HELP THOUGH! (Sango's going to stay with Kakashi though. It's an interesting pairing and I've grown attatched to the idea. Sorry peeps.) faster I get help, faster I update. There's a chance I'll update tonight if I get the help. (A very large chance, mind you) And slim to no chance if you don't. Really, I want to make my readers happy, so help me out.


	7. Home At Last!

Heh, I decided NOT to make training a huge part of the fic. so this 1 month of rigourous training...is done. It's stupid after my long speech about how annoying fast training goes, but my writers block is partially because of the training, so I'd prefer to just get it over with. Also, new pairing's are probably changing to Kagome/Shikamaru and Nezhul is still up for debate. so, looks like it's a poll.

Nezhul/Kiba :1 vote

Nezhul/Shino: 2 votes.

Team 8 sat boredly, trying to find entertainment in their normal hobbies. Naruto and Sakura were visiting them, and Hinata was trying to avoid Naruto. Kiba, who was training Akamaru, took Hinata's shyness towards Naruto the wrong way, and his brotherly instincs kicked in. "Naruto, did you say something to Hinata?" he whispered to the orange clad nin. "Er...no, don't think so..." Naruto replied, opening his eyes fully and scratching his head. Suddenly Ino came running past screaming. "SASUKE'S COMING BACK TODAY!" she said, running towards the gates. Indeed, one month had passed since the jounin dragged the girls out of those same gates to train. Chouji followed more slowly, and Shikamaru followed grumbling. Kakashi and Sango arrived first, both looking half starved. As they approached, they seemed to not see the group at the gates and walked right passed, toward the nearest food shack. Next to arrive was Nezhul, who had left Neji behind in her excitement. Also, in her excitement she ran too fast and accidentaly crashed into Shino, sending them both flying. Nezhul recoved first, but when she looked to her 'pillow' she turned stark white with terror. Trembling, she stood and got off the nin, before screaming as loud as she possibly could, which, to put it bluntly, made Naruto seem like a mute. "What's wrong with her?" Kiba asked, covering his sensitive ears. The noise was coming close to knocking him out. "BUGS!" Nezhul screamed, but she was quieting down. "Shino, hide the damn bugs!" Kiba yelled. Shino quickly hid the insects as best he could and Nezhul began taking deep calming breaths. Smiling sheepishly, she apologized and added. "I have to go, I've had to pee for the last twenty-four hours and if I don't hurry, I'll explode!" she said, racing off to the nearest bathroom. The nin all sweatdropped as Neji followed, absolutely exhausted and looking slightly angry. "That idiot didn't know the way home. If she wouldn't have taken off like that and I didn't have to try and track her, we would have gotten here yesterday." he said, then stalked off. Sasuke and Kagome came last, with Kagome looking at the village like it was a godsend and Sasuke looking bored as ever, while secretly watching Ino warily. Sakura may be over him, but Ino was still a stalker.

It was a day or two later when everything seemed nomal again. Sango had spent most of her time eating, while Nezhul slept for the most part. Kagome could barely move, so she spent a lot of time sleeping too. Finally the three had gotten together.

"NEZHUL WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR HAIR!" Kagome yelled in shock as she saw a tired Nezhul stumble into the room. "Oh, Neji was showing me what 'gum' was, and it got stuck in my hair. No big deal." she said. Her once long flowing white hair had been cut down to her shoulders. "Sango, girl you look like you haven't eaten the entire month!" Nezhul exclaimed. Sango shrugged. "I barely did. Kakashi forgot to pack food, and neither of us can cook." she answered. "Kagome, you look pretty damn beat up!" Sango commented. "Heh, Sasuke said I had fine jutsu control, it was my fighting skills that lacked. We worked on that almost the whole time. He's not very merciful..." she said. Sakura, who was also with them, grinned. "Sounds like you guys had fun." she said, not expecting the look Nezhul gave her. It seemed to be a look of pure horror. "Fun..." she said, as if she were terrified. "The day that _that_ trip was fun, is the day that the devil wears a pink dress and declares his love for all things pure and good." she had said this without the terror, but said it so seriously that Sakura backed away slowly. It wasn't everyday you saw Nezhul being serious. "It must have been hell." Sakura commented. Sakura jumped when Nezhul's eyes grew teary, and she began to wipe them furiously. "Yes it was. He...(sniffle) killed a bunny! And made me eat it too!" Nezhul said before breaking down in sobs. "Uh...is she ok?" Sakura asked. Suddenly Nezhul looked up without any tears or any trace she had been crying. "No, but if you buy me some ice cream I will be." she said. Sakura sighed. "Fine."

"Shino, you really scared the life out of the girl with white hair." Kiba commented as he bought himself and Akamaru some icecream. "Isn't that bad for the dog?" Shino commented, and glared behind his glasses as Kiba shrugged. "Akamaru's fine." he said, petting his dog. They then noticed Nezhul, Kagome, Sango and Sakura approaching the icecream stand. "Hello! I'm getting free icecream!" Nezhul said, in an eearily cheerful tone. Kiba grinned. "Ok! My names Kiba, by the way, and this is my dog Akamaru." he introduced. Nezhul stared down at the dog. "It's a dog?" she asked. Kiba anime fell. "Aw! Now you hurt his feelings!" he said. Nezhul automatically apolgized and picked up the strange white dog. "I'm so sorry Akamaru! Really! Your a cute...dog!" she said, and smiled when Akamaru licked her. "He likes you." Kiba said. Nezhul raised an eyebrow as she passed the dog to it's master. "What, can you talk to him or something?" she asked sarcastically. "Yup!" the Inuzuka said unaffected by her tone and the shock on her face. "Wow really!" she asked. Then she noticed Shino. "Oh! I'm so sorry about crashing into you the other day, then screaming my head off. I'm a little afraid of bugs." she said. Shino nodded absentmindedly. _'A little?'_ he thought to himself. "Hey, watch it!" they heard Kagome yell.

Shikamaru had been walking along absentmidedly when he crashed into a girl around his age. She yelled at him, ofcouse, but he didn't apologize. "Same could go for you, newbie." he muttered. "Hm, well excuse me for having to watch my friend like a hawk for fear of her destroying something on accident." to which Nezhul cut in with "Hey, no need to bring me into this!" and Shikamaru grumbled his reply. "Not my fault idiots attract other idiots." he said. Kagome turned red from anger. "That would explain why you ran into me then, wouldn't it?" she said. Shikamaru didn't reply, angry and embarrased. Kagome heard quiet giggles from Sango and Nezhul as Shikamaru stalked away. "Way to go Kagome! With that attitude, you'll never get a boyfriend!" Sango commented. "With his ego, I'm surprised his head isn't the size of Jupiter." Kagome retorted with a slight sneer. Nezhul took her mint icecream and walked over, licking contentedly, an amused grin on her face. The girls left the stand, but Sango didn't miss Nezhul glance back at the boys that still stood there.

"So, which did you look back for?" Sango questioned the already cherry-red bounty hunter. "Neither, I just wished I got more Icecream!" she insisted. Sango grinned evilly, and her 'darker side' (As Kagome called it) came out. "You and dog boy seemed to get along pretty well. Whens the wedding?" she asked. Nezhul turned from embarrased to angry. "Oh, really Sango. I insulted his poor pooch. I had to be nice!" she huffed, crossing her arms. Kagome sighed. She felt bad for the girl. She couldn't count the times Sango had given her the same treatment. "Or, do you like Neji?" Sango asked, wiggling her eyebrows. Nezhul blew a fuse. "That _prick!_ I went through hell and back with him and he says 'Stupid woman, you should have learned this months ago''' Nezhul mocked, doing a freakishly accurate voice impersonation.

Sango and Kagome sweatdropped. "Something tells me you mastered his voice by mocking him alot, huh?" Sango asked, and Nezhul's proud nod confirmed it.

No offense to all of you who think Akamaru is adorable, but when I first saw him I thought ''What the hell is that thing?" Next chapter should be out soon, dont worry.

REVIEW!


	8. The Fourth Of July!

Happy 4th! This is a party ep speacially made for the 4th! It still, of course, is part of the story though, not only made for the 4th.

Yawn. Another lazy day for Shikamaru awaited as he traveled with Chouji and Ino. Ino wouldn't shut up about Sasuke, so Shikamaru tuned her out. Chouji was rambling about food, while eating some strange squid shaped meal. Squinting his nose in disust at the stupid nin's appetite. He was left to mull over yesterdays events, and his encounter with the grey-blue eyed woman. She had spunk, he'd give her that. He was too lazy to mull over it any longer. Deciding he was bored, he glanced around, and saw the girl he had previously been thinking about. She was walking along with a slightly taller girl with brown eyes and matching hair. The white-haired girl was just in his line of sight talking to Neji, who was staring at her boredly as she waved her hands around yelling at him.

"YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO TRACK ME, FOR THE LAST TIME!" Nezhul had given up on a polite apology, Now, she just screamed her head off. "Not my fault I thought you were too stupid to find your way back." Neji replied. Nezhul waved her hands angrily, balling up her fists, and pumped her chakra into them. She swung, and the Hyuuga barely dodged the blow. "You have no right to call me an idiot!" she screamed, cracking her knuckles in satisfaction as the tree behind Neji snapped in half. Her eyes had darkned, and she looked angry. Neji watched shocked as a wild blue aura flared, and Nezhul grinned as she took out her flute. It shifted into the long pole, before shifting to a naginata. Not giving Neji mch time, she launched herself at him.

Kiba, Hinata and Shino had just wrapped up a delivery mission when they stumbled upon the scene which had attracted many nin. Nezhul seemed to be talking with Neji as she attacked.

"I have wauted so long to do this. You constantly treat me as if I'm stupid, and I was stupid enough to allow you to! Well, screw that!" she said, and Neji dodged another swipre from the deadly blade. "Why didn't you do this before dumbass!" he yelled. "There you go again, calling me names. Why the hell would I show a stuck up prick like you? Know what? I should have! It'd have popped your friggin mountainous ego!" she yelled, stopping the attacks.

"Is she going to be ok?" Kiba asked Kagome. Kagome nodded. "Nezhul doesn't deal well with frustration. She keeps it bottled up and then releases it. Sometimes she'll bawl her eyes out, others she might rip some eyes out. Ya never know." Sango responded. Nezhul finally stopped her tirade and grins sheepishly. "I'm so sorry! I did it again!" she groaned. "I really am sorry for being an idiot. I need to learn how to control myself better, I suppose. I'm really sorry Neji-kun, for taking it out on you that is. I however, am not sorry for screaming at you. Quite frankly, you deserved it." she muttered the ending dryly, still steaming from her frustrations. Neji chuckled. "Glad to be of service." he said. "Hey, we have good news!" kiba said. Everyone turned to look at him. "We're having a 4th of July Party!" Kiba announced happily. Nezhul unknowingly brightened at the mention of party, and cheered. Stopping herself mid-cheer, she cocked her head cutely to the side and put a finger to her chin. "What's 4th of jew-lie?" she asked confusedly. "It's were you blow fireworks and party and...and...fireworks!" Naruto yelled in her face. She backed up a foot or two and stared at him wonderingly. "Gee Naruto, that explains alot." she muttered, but pretended to accept his answer.

It was hours later and darkness approached. Shino was clamly explaining fireworks to Nezhul as he had been the only one who gave her an acceptable answer. Kiba and Naruto had answered. "You don't know! They blow up and it is so freaking awesome!" while Sasuke, Shikamaru, and Neji simply stared blankly at her. Kagome was trying to find clothes for herself, Sango and Nezhul, while Sango was sparring with Kakashi. "So, they have gunpowder in them, and when you light them they blow up in pretty colors?" Nezhul asked. Shino nodded, watching her carefully. She grinned at him. "I want to set one off!" she said happily. Shino shrugged. "Nezhul, Sango...I found some clothes!" Kagome yelled.

10 minutes later Nezhul came out with a gray shortsleeved hoodie that was unzipped to her midchest. Underneath the hoodie was a black shirt and she wore white knee length shorts that fit loosely and had tons of pockets. She went barefoot, insisting shoes were overrated. Instead of a headband, she had the design on her shorts, a beautiful midnight blue. Sango came out wearing a short pink shirt that just covered her breast with a fishnet shirt to cover it. she also wore black cargo shorts that were the same length as Nezhul's, but not nearly as loose. Her headband was made a pink choker. Kagome came out with a green shortsleeved hoodie that also just covered her breast and a pair of white cargo pants that stopped just above her calf with many pockets. She wore fishnets on her arms and her hair was tied in a lazy ponytail, her headband used for the tie. Nezhul immediatly asked Shino to show her how to fire off fireworks, and he complied by lighting a black lighter and setting off a bottle rocket. He then gave her a sparkler and showed her how to light it. Her eyes lit up immensly as the sparks on the firework began, and she giggled softly. "It's amazing!" she said wistfully. "Hey everyone! This one isn't working!'' Naruto said, and looked into the roman candle. Suddenly the Roman candle exploded in his face, sending the poor nin flying.

Naruto awoke to a muttered "This is so troublesome" and a loud smack coming from Shikamaru and Kagome. Nezhul was looking rather put-out, probably because the lack of things blowing up. Indeed, she had burst out into uncontrolable laughter when Naruto blew a firework in his face. Shino had stopped her by throwing a bug at her, and she nearly passed out herself. She was still glaring at him for it, rather angry. Oh, and he wasn't in the best mood either. Nezhul almost squashed the bug in her attempts to get it off. They both sat with their backs to eachother, arms crossed angrily over their chests. Sango sighed as she watched them, trying to figure out how to stop their grudge. Grabbing some fireworks, she figured cheering Nezhul up would be easier. "Ne, Nezhul. Wanna fire some more?" she asked. Nezhul glanced up at her, before shooting an apologetic glance at Shino. Sighing, she stood up and walked over to him. "Shino, I'm sorry I flipped like that, but you should already know I'm really afraid of bugs." she said. Shino glanced up at her before pushing himself to his feet. "Hn." he said. Nezhul took the hint and grinned, accepting the apology. She began setting off fireworks, enjoying the beautiful sight. "Shows about to star!" Kiba said. Everyone sat in awe as huge fireworks aligted the sky. Nezhul seemed absolutely delighted, reminding Kagome of a young child. Sango watched in awe aswell, and Kagome giggled lightly. It was good to be surrounded by friends and enjoying life's peace. Unfoutunatly, her stomach churned uncomfortably, the peace would not last long. She realized with a sinking feeling of dread that this was simply the calm before the storm. And boy would it be one _huge_ storm.

Enjoy? Review. See ya!

Kage, out.


	9. Defend, Attack, and Farm

Rolling out of bed a little too early for her own tastes, Kagome looked around. Nezhul was stretched out on the couch, and Sango slept in a rather large loveseat. The two were sound asleep, and Kagome felt like going back to dreamland herself, but she decided against it and began to cook something to eat. After she knew the smells had wafted into the livingroom, Nezhul and Sango stumbled in rubbing their eyes. "Kagome, what's this I found in your room?" Nezhul asked, pointing to Kagome's make-up bag. "Oh, it's make-up. You put it on your face." Kagome responded. "On your face?" she asked, staring at Kagome's liquid eyeliner in a mix between awe and confusion. "After breakfast, can you teach me about it?" she asked curiously. Kagome sighed. "Alright fine. Sometimes your cluelessness amazes me Zu-chan." Kagome said. "Zu-chan? Then your Gome-chan and Sango is San-san!" Nezhul said, before testing her bacon by poking at it. "Hmm...thanks for saying you'd teach me Gome-chan, but I think I'll explore a little today. I want to get out of this boring town a little more often." Nezhul said tiredly. "Maybe take a nap in the trees." she muttered, yawning and giving a slight stretch. Her pajama's consisted of white sweatpants and a light blue muscle shirt, and her short hair was in pigtails. She quickly left the room after grabbing two energy bars to go get ready. Kagome blinked. "Wonder what made her change her mind..." she said. "I dunno. The person that can completely understands Nezhul will have to be the perfect mix of an idiot and a genius." Sango said, sighing. They heard the door open then close again as Nezhul left the house they shared.

"Nah! I'm so friggin' bored! No demons to kill, no money to earn by killing said demons, nothing!" Nezhul said, sighing as she stared down at the flowing river hundreds of feet below. She sighed, sitting crosslegged with her head resting in her hands. "I wonder if Izure is still around..." she wondered aloud. "Who is Izure?" a voice asked. Nezhul turned, unalarmed, to see Shino watching her curiously. "She was my white tiger. She was a demon though, so she'd probably still be alive somewhere." she said. "Oh, by the way, Tsunade wants to see you Sango and Kagome." Shino said. "Tsunade? Probably about the training eh?" she wondered aloud.

The two walked through the forest in silence until "Aren't you afraid of me?" Shino asked. Nezhul looked bewildered. "No, should I be? I may fear bugs, but it doesn't stop me from liking you..." she responded, blushing lightly. He looked to her in shock. "I find it cute how you act so reserved, so calculating and calm, when the littlest of things can shock you. It's endearing when you open up to people, but you still seem slightly nervous and akward. I like a lot about you Shino." she answered. He shook his head bewildered, and almost jumped when Nezhul grabbed his hand and skipped along, happy about god knows what.

"Eh? You _don't_ want us to begin training?" Kagome asked from next to a complaining Shikamaru. Slapping him lightly, Sango noticed the farmiliar light in her eyes. Kagome needed someone to argue with, someone to get frusterated over. It was good for her. She also noted Nezhul with Shino. Sango suspected that Shino needed someone to understand him and open his shell, and that Nezhul was more than willing to help. Sango also saw Nezhul and Kagome give her knowing looks. Maybe...just a maybe...a _very_ small maybe at that...she liked Kakashi. Glancing over at said pervert, she felt a small flutter. "Nope, your going to be helping around. We need to prepare the troops, so to speak. Nezhul will be in charge of farming. Kagome in charge of defenses, Sango in charge of weapon construction. Use any nin you want to help you." Tsunade announced. Nezhul looked absolutely shocked. "Farming? I have to farm?" she asked, shocked and bewildered. "Sounds like fun!" she brightened up immediatly. "So, how do you farm?" she asked.

"Rise and shine girls!" Naruto said, stomping into the girls shared apartment. Nezhul tried to get off the couch, but ended up rolling off and landing akwardly. Shino, Shikamaru and Kakashi walked in right after as Sango sat up from under her mass of covers, staring tiredly at them. "Ne, the sun isn't up yet Naruto-kun..." Nezhul said, staring out the window confusedly. "Yep, and you girls have work to do! get up up up!" Naruto said. Nezhul, who wasn't much of a morning person, muttered something Kagome had muttered before. "Somebody had some happy-crack." Irately, she grabbed a towel and waltzed into the bathroom, sulking slightly. 30 minutes and a loud bang later, Sango was shoved in the bathroom to se if Nezhul was ok. Sitting with her clothes still on, soaking in warm water sat Nezhul, sleeping rather soundly. Sango got an idea...kill two birds with one stone, right?

Nezhul was slung over Shino's shoulder while Shikamaru complained about Kagome slumped over his. They were heading towards the nearest lake, which at this time should be ice cold. Yup, this would wake them up.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAA" two screams echoed through the still air. Gasping breaths and enraged glares were the only things the two soaked girls could currently manage that didn't involve a brutal mauling of their currently grinning friend.

"Why'd you do that Sango?" Nezhul said, trying to remain calm as she realized her white shirt was now see through.  
I had to wake you girls up. Time to start farming Nezhul, and Kagome, you need to work on defense. Come on! Let's go!" she chirped. Kagome's feet dragged as she tried desperatly to remain awake. "You're so lazy Kagome... do you need 'coughfee?' right now?'' Kagome glanced at her. "First of all Nezhul, it's coffee. Second, yes. Third, don't you?" Nezhul shrugged as she remained in the water while Kagome stepped out, glaring stubbornly at a tree in the distance, her face slightly red. "Nezhul get out of the water! Come on! HURRY!" Sango was growing impatient. She stepped in the water and was shocked when Nezhul turned her menacing glare onto her demonslayer friend. Sango was frozen as she had never seen Nezhul actually _glare_ at someone. Growling at Sango in warning, she said "I am not getting out. No way in hell." She said. Sango stepped out of the water and crossed her arms over her chest. Suddenly Shino muttered something and took off his jaket, then approached Nezhul. All at once, everyone realized what was wrong as Shino offered her his jacket. She gladly accepted, looking slightly odd in the huge clothes, and stood up. "Alrighty then, let's get going!" she said, grinning happily. Sango sweatdropped. _'Damn moodswings.'_

"Er...defense? I don't know what to do..." Kagome said. Shikamaru sighed. _'How troublesome'_ he thought. "You speacialize in barriers, correct? Read up on a barrier that makes the town invisible, then have the nin preform whatever jutsu is needed, then work on defense training, like what to do in case of attack." he drawled out. Kagome was somewhere in between angry at his tone, and happy for his help. Sighing, she decided to start reading about barriers while she had the nin she was in charge of patrol the borders and fortify the buildings and main-gate.

"Er, alright! Offence. Er...we should...make weapons?" Sango asked more than stated. She seemed unsure of herself, never one to lead so many people. Normally she was on her own, making weapons by herself. "We will work in shifts. 1/4 of you will train, 1/4 will make weapons, and 1/2 will rest. I want weapons being made constantly, poisons, kunai, shuriken, everything. Get to work!" she had gained confudence during her speech, and ended rather comandingly.

"Nice job." Kakashi whispered.

Nezhul stared at all the cooks and farmers, and even medic-nins who were waiting for her instruction. She glanced helplessly at Shino, who seemed somewhat at a loss. "Er...medic-nins, you'll need to start mass producing your herbs on your own. We really need them, so I expect you to spend all free time tending to the garden section assinged. Er... we'll work you in shifts. Out of you 50, we'll need 10 to attend the garden, leaving 40 in the local hospitals. Also, all small time healing clinics will be shut down and all who work in them sent to a hospital to work. Food production will need to be doubled in case of emergency. Make alll foods non-perishable and easy to make. No more resturants. I also want half of you to gi ti the river everyday making as many trips as possible to gather water, also in case of emergency. All farmers need to work double shift. Half will work days, the other half nights. We need mass production here. Also, we could use all extra food and products as trade, if we have too much." Nezhul said. She had planned out everything as best as possible the night before, but she was still unsure. She had no idea how to farm, or cook for that matter. Hopefully she'd learn both during her time working.

Maybe this would work out after all.


	10. What is Love?

"Um...Nezhul?" Hinata shyly asked. She had officially met Hinata yesterday, as the girl was in her farming group because of her facination with flowers. "Yeah, Hinata?" Nezhul asked quietly, as she stared at the stars with the girl. "Do you...know what love is?" Hinata asked, turning red when Nezhul looked somewhere in between bewildered and embarrased. (have you ever seen this look? It's kawai) "Er...love?" Nezhul asked, hesitant. She saw Hinata blush and turn away, embarrased. "S-Sorry I asked...I shouldn't have-" she was inturrupted by Nezhul, who looked thoughtful as she stared at the stars. "No, sorry. I don't know if I like him or not, but I know I get butterflies whenever he's around. He's nice to me, everyone is. I'm not used to it. I was never really social, so I'm akward around people. But...around him I feel...natural. Even though I'm afraid of bugs, and I don't really know what I feel, I know that I enjoy the feeling, and no matter what, I don't want it to end. But if you really need to ask someone, ask Kagome and Sango. Their more expierenced than I am." Nezhul said, smiling weakly. She looked to be slightly sad. "I'll ask with you. I want to know too." Nezhul said, standing and offering Hinata a hand. The girl gladly took it, and they left to find Sango.

"L-love?" Sango asked, shocked. "Yeah, what is it?" Nezhul asked as Hinata twiddled her fingers. "Well...love is...love is a feeling you get when someone is special to you. I don't really know how to describe it. With Miroku I felt like I could stay with him forever. But with Kakashi, forever seems too short. I know I loved Miroku...so...what do I feel for Kakashi?" Sango said. "Kakashi is great, albeit perverted. He really cares about people, and in so many ways he reminds me or Miroku. But they're so different. Kakashi doesn't show interest in other girls, though he reads his dirty books. BUT, Miroku had a charm to him that no other man can possibly ever have." Sango said. "Let's go ask Kagome then." Nezhul said with a sigh.

"Er.. are you three serious?" Kagome asked. "Yup. Completely. What's love?" Sango asked. "Love is...love is when you trust someone with your life, and would risk yours to save them. Love is when you feel natural around someone, and you can tell them anything." Kagome said. "What does it feel like though?" Nezhul asked. "I don't know how to explain it. You'll have to figure it out on your own. Each new love is different." Kagome said. "Anou...Kagome...do you love...Shikamaru-san?" Hinata asked, twiddling her fingers again, and looking away. Kagome sighed. "I honestly don't know. I can't seem to ever be angry at that lazy old fart, for some odd reason. And I do feel relaxed around him, but it's not the same as with Inuyasha." Kagome said. Hinata looked at her curiously. "Remeber Kagome, each new love is different?" Hinata asked, quoting Kagome. Nezhul and Sango grinned at Hinata as she fumbled over Kagome's embarrasment. "Kagome-san, I'm so sorry to have embarrased you! Really...I... I didn't mean to do that." she stuttered slightly. Kagome smiled warmly. "No need to get so flustered Hinata-chan. It's ok. Your right, I guess." she said.

Hinata sighed, her question un-answered. So, she decided to ask someothers. "Shino-san, what's...love?" she asked, this time very embarrashed as he almost did a double take. "Love? I'm not sure. It's a feeling, when someones important to you, I guess." he said. Hinata nodded, not satisfied with the answer. "I'll be going now, Shino-san." Shino watched her leave in mild curiosity._ 'Why is she asking this? To me, none the less.' _he wondered, before dropping the subject.

"Shikamaru-san! I need to ask you something." Hinata said. Shikamaru nodded, a sign for her to continue. "What's love?" she asked. _'How troublesome'_ he thought before sighing. "I don't know. A feeling. Rather useless if you ask me." he said, then walked off. _'What is love...really?'_ he thought to himself.

Hinata decided not to ask Kakashi, unsure if the answer would scar her for life or not.

_'Everyone seems to be in love...that is...everyone but me. Even Naruto and Sakura have gotten around to liking eachother.'_ Hinata thought sadly_. 'Will I ever find true love?'_ She decided to ask one last person.

"Kiba-san, what's love?" she asked. She feared he wouldn't be able to quench her thirst for knowledge, and the shocked look in his eyes made her almost loose hope. "Love?" he asked. He saw her hopless look, and his eyes softened. Doing the only thing he could think of, he hugged Hinata to him and closed his eyes contentedly.

Hinata felt all her shyness melt away in Kiba's soft embrace, and she felt happy.

_'Is this...love?'_

End.

A short but sweet little thought I came up with, because Kiba and Hinata need love too!

Yes, this is still part of the story, but like with the 4th of july, I'll throw in little chapters that don't really have a major impact, but rather do cute little things like this.


	11. Cost of Sleeping In!

"Tsunade? Is there anyway we can wake up later than we have to?" Kagome asked. "Hmm...Yes, actually, there is." Tsunade said, with a slight grin. _'If I know Kagome...she'll agree without waiting to learn what it is.'_ she thought mischeviously. "Yay! Well then we'll do it!" Kagome said. "No matter what it is?" Tsunade asked. The glint in her eyes made Sango and Nezhul nervous, but before they could stop her, Kagome had agreed. "Good then, girls. I expect you to start packing ASAP. We'll arrange houses for you shortly." Tsunade said, causing the girls to sweatdrop. "Just what will we be doing, pray tell?" Sango said, raising an eyebrow. "You'll be moving to a house closer to your work. Problem Solved." Tsunade said, and another grin began to form at Nezhuls next words. "But...I don't want to be alone!" she was adorable when she was confused and sad like that. "Oh..." Tsunade began, and an evil smirk graced her lips. "You won't be alone." she said, before dissmissing the now fearful girls.

"Er...are you my new roomate?" Sango asked the girl, who was slightly dazed. "Um, yeah I guess. My name is Tenten, so you know." Tenten said. "We should have some more coming soon. Sunakagure is also sending nin to help us out, so we might have someone from their too." She said, then watched as Temari seemed to appear out of nowhere. "Speak of the devil" Tenten muttered. "It seems I will be staying with you guys. So...what's up?" she asked, sizing them up. "We're just waiting." Tenten said. "And waiting." Sango added. "Hey, I get to live in a house full of pretty girls?" Kakashi asked, walking up. "Oh, could it get any worse?" Sango muttered. "Don't say that Sango, it can always get worse." Kakashi said. She could just _hear_ the smirk. They all went into the average sized townhose style apartment.

"Hinata-chan! Nice to see you! Oh, uh, and who are you?" Nezhul asked, looking at the girl curiously. "I'm Ino, Nice to meet you. So long as your not after Sasuke, we should get along fine." Ino said, and Nezhul giggled. "We should have one more roomate, if I know Tsunade, it's going to be a boy, just to embarass us." Ino commented. "Correct." a male voice said. Nezhul turned to see..."Hey Shino!" she said. He nodded to the girls and they all grabbed their bags to get to their apartment. It was a nice cozy 4 bedroom apartment, rather large.

"Sakura!" Kagome said, exited to see her friend. Sakura turned, huge bags in hand, to the excited girl. "Oh,hey Kagome! Your my roomie?" Sakura said when Kagome reached her. "Yeah, it's great huh?" Kagome asked. "Ch, yeah. Great." a voice said from behind. Kagome didn't even turn, and an annoyed tick began to form. "Oh, Shikamaru. It's you." she said, none too excitedly. Inside however, she was in shock. "Nice to see you too." he replied sarcastically. "Well well well, what have we here?" A smooth womans voice said. Kagome slowly turned to see..."You!" both she and the woman expressed their shock, pointing fingers, or in the other womans case, a fan.

END!

Can you guess who the other woman is? Come on, I know you can! I'm not even going to hint it's so easy.


	12. In the Wind

IMPORTANT!

Sadly enough you guys, I realized that a Shino/Nezhul pairing just won't work out. And now were back to square one. Becasue soon some events will be taking place that will majorly be affecting Nezhul's life, and because I found out that the bugs live _inside _Shino, I just don't think it will work out. So, like I said, we're back to square one, with me being lost to Nezhul's pairing. Also, Kagura needs someone too! So, we have a dilema. Another Vote For Pairings, and it seems the only candidates left are Gaara, Sasuke, and Neji. (I can be persuaded to stick the girls with any one of these boys.) Ino will be put with someone you guys won't expect to see! Or Shino, cause he'll be left lady-less. TTTT I'm sorry guys, my story changes so much that the pairings seem to go with it. Like I said, soon the Nezhul we know won't quite be the same, due to some sad events.

END AUTHORS NOTE!

STORY START

"Kagura?" Kagome asked, almost in shock. Kagura red eyes stared back in equal confusion. "How the hell are you alive Kagome?" Kagura asked. Kagome stared, that was the first time Kagura had used her name in a tone other than utter hatred. "Er...I melted?" Kagome was hyper-aware of how utterly idiotic she sounded, but Kagura's eyes were dancing with laughter and understanding. "What about you?" Kagome asked. "Oh, the life of normal ningens was boring, so I becam a shinobi. I never dreamed of seeing you here." Kagura said. "So, are you from Suna, or Konoha?" Kagome asked. "Well, I'm from Konoha, and frankly, I'm surprised I hadn't seen you before." Kagura answered. "Erm...can we just go to our room?" Sakura asked, struggling under the weight of her bags. Kagura turned a rather curious look to her, then shrugged it off, before effortlessy taking Sakura's bags and her own to her room, but not before turning to Kagome and saying "I presume you can carry your own bags?" and when Kagome nodded, she grinned and walked up the flight of stairs. "So, Kagome, I presume you'd like to hear about your friends?" Kagura asked once in the privacy of Kagome's room. Kagome nodded happily, but she still didn't quite trust Kagura. "Well, Shippo is still alive, and should be coming back in three to four weeks. Inuyasha died with Kikyo about a hundred years ago. Sesshomaru and Rin lived happily until Rin died of old age. Now Sesshomaru runs an orginization for orphaned children in Tokyo. He'll probably visit soon with information on Naraku or Orochimaru. Miroku married Koharu and had many children, most of their decendents work for Sesshomaru's Spy Opps. Kouga and the she-wolf married and had two children, whom I'm not sure if I hate, or adore. Kanna is doing alright, also working as a spy for Sesshomaru, but should show up with Shippo. We escaped Naraku with the help of your friends, and since then have been helping the orginization that works to kill Naraku." Kagura informed Kagome of all she knew. "Kagura, you've..." Kagome trailed off, but Kagura took the hint and smilied lightly. "Yeah, well when the big bad demon holds your heart, theres no time for happiness." Kagura said. Suddenly the phone rang and Nezhul's cheery voice sounded on the other end. "I'm learing to cook!" she chirped over the other end. Kagome sweatdropped. "Oh, thats great Nezhul...you mean you didn't know how to cook before?" she asked. "Nope." Nezhul replied. Suddenly Ino's voice sounded over the other end. "Nezhul! he cookies are on fire!" she heard a quick shuffle and Nezhul saying bye, before the conversation ended. Kagome saw Kagura chuckle, obviously amused by the conversation. But both of them felt something. Something bad was going to happen.

"Ino! HELP!" Nezhul was staring at the burnt cookies. Ino laughed quietly and patted the girl on the back. "Next time, don't call your friends ok? We'll try again." Ino said, this was the second time Nezhul had messed up, but they had plenty of cookie dough, and it was kind of fun to hang out with other girls and do girly stuff, something kunoichi dodn't get to do often. Hinata was busy making more cookie dough and Ino was carefully instructing Nezhul on how long to leave the cookies in the oven. It took a while, but they finally got the recipe right.

Sango sat with Tenten and Temari, exchanging stories about fights and other interesting things while they unpacked their stuff. Temari was in the middle of a particularly exciting story when Kakashi walked in with dinner. They ate in silence as they contemplated the twists and turns this day had taken. Sango felt something in the pit of her stomach that night. The same feeling she felt the night Kohaku died. Something bad was going to happen tonight, and someone would be gone.

"Coming!" Nezhul said, going to answer the door. Trying to remove the sticky cookie dough from her hands, she twisted the knob of her door and swung it open, surprised to see a cat at her door. There was a sign on her neck that said, 'Follow Me' slipping off her apron, Nezhul's eyes narrowed. _'I don't like this.'_ she thought to herself, but followed none the less. It was raining when the cat finally stopped, and Nezhul noticed that there was a rather large cliff. "Hello, dear sister." a voice called, and Nezhul's eyes went impossibly large. Turning, she saw a figure illuminated by lightning. White hair cascaded down the slim back, and red eyes glinted dangerously. "HeiLin?" she whispered, frozen to the spot. "You...you're dead." Nezhul said, backing up to the cliff edge.

Sasuke had been wandering the forest. He was unsure what it was, but his gut told him something terrible would happen tonight. Hearing talking, he went to the source to find Nezhul and another woman, facing off in the rain, with Nezhul dangerously close to the edge.

"Yes, and who killed me, _dearest sister?_" HeiLin asked, pulling out three kunai. "Your own. You killed our family, I couldn't let you live." Nezhul said, her eyes hardening at her sister. HeiLin grinned. "You're acting different. Are you afraid?" HeiLin asked, taking another step towards Nezhul. Sasuke decided to make his presence known, and stepped out of the shadows to glare menacingly at HeiLin. He didn't anticipate, however, that this would startle Nezhul. The only warning had been a quiet rustle before he turned to see Nezhul falling off the cliff. No scream, no nothing. Just a sinking feeling in him as he realized he couldn't save her. He wouldn't see her tomorrow running through the streets laughing, or smiling at something she only knew. He wouldn't see her again. Because...

_Nezhul was dead._


	13. Dead or Alive

"Make your report, Sasuke." Tsunade said. The mood was rather dim as the assembled nin waited in tense silence for the stoic Uchiha to recount what he had seen. "The woman called herself Nezhul's sister. She didn't seem like she was going to injure her, but I decided to step in seeing as Nezhul was too close to the edge for comfort. The movement startled her, and she fell. I couldn't reach her in time..." Sasuke gave the report quietly, and waited for the angry accusations. He already saw it as his fault. He wasn't strong enough, or fast enough to save her. He didn't expect the quiet, "Don't you dare blame yourself for this, Sasuke-teme!" Naruto had said that. Sasuke turned blank eyes to the angry Uzumaki. "It's not your fault. Nobody could have done anything. I say we track down that HeiLin lady and make her pay!" Naruto said. Kagome, who's head had been previously hidden in her hands, glanced up and offered a watery smile. "I learned long ago..." she began quietly. "That it's useless to blame yourself for every death you 'could' have prevented. In the long run, if you 'could' have prevented it, then you would have." she said, then stood up. Sango nodded in aproval, glad to see Kagome was over all the deaths she had experienced. Maybe now she could move on to happiness? Then with a saddening realization, Sango remembered her friend who no longer had a chance to have the happiness she deserved. The room was silent once again in grief.

She didn't know what had happened. Wracking her brain, she tried to recall how she had ended up here, all she got was a searing pain and white hot fear. Then it hit her. She remembered everything as she struggled to stand, but all she got was a strangled scream of pain, and darkness. She estimated, by the odd angle her left ankle rested at that it was shattered, and her other leg wasn't responding either. She guessed her head had been cracked open by the sticky warm feeling on her head, and the blood trickling down her face. Deciding it would be best not to move just yet, she stood stalk still with half lidded eyes, trying to acess where she was.

"I want you to try and at least find the body. That's a 100 foot drop to straight ground, and there's little to no chance she survived but if, by a miracle, she did..." Tsunade was saying. They caught the hidden meaning. If she did survive, she wouldn't last much longer. "We'll send out search parties. Sasuke, how about you go on the first one with Neji and Kagura. Both of them are more than capable of taking care of themselves, and so are you." Tsunade said. "Good luck." she whispered as they left.

She wouldn't last much longer where she was. Animals would start sniffing out her blood scent. Hearing a loud shuffling, she groaned. The animals were already gathering. Deciding she'd put up a fight, she pushed down on her arms until she was in a handstand. Positioning her legs so they were comfortable, she began to walk carefully on her palms, using her fingers to move rocks so as not to injure her self further. She moved as fast as she could on her unstable arms, thanking the fates that she knew how to walk on her hands. She heard some loud shuffling and fell, startled, onto her back.

They had been searching for a long time, but found almost no trace of her. Until...they saw splattered blood. Following a small trail, they found a rocky area. There, splayed across one of the rocks, was Nezhul, grinning like mad at them.

"Why are you grinning?" Sasuke asked blandly, almost relived to see her alive. He didn't want to carry her dead body back. "Because I'm just that weird." she answered, winking playfully at him. He rolled his eyes at her. She _was_ just that weird. He almost grinned as she pushed herself into a handstand and watched them carefully. "So, we going home?" she asked, cocking her head to the side. Sasuke nodded at her, then without warning, slung her over his shoulder. "Hey, who said you could do that?" she asked, quiet enough that no one would hear. A smirk played across his lips. "I did." he said back, and she almost growled. She stopped herself and instead giggled. She was _very _happy to be alive.

Infact, she would only be happier when her sisters blood was spilled.


	14. I'm lost

Well, sorry to say but, all confidence in my story is gone. I don't know what to do. I got told Nezhul was mary-sue, and I don't like mary-sues. in my opinion, just because she survived doesn't mean she's mary-sue. And...well...now I can't help but think I'm not a competant author because I can't avoid making a mary sue. Well, sorry guys, that I turned her to a mary-sue. I just got sick of killing my OC's off, and wanted to give her the chance to show that she can be serious and strong, instead of the goofball baby she seems to be.

Sorry, but I don't know what to do anymore, I'd already been insecure about my writing, and now...sorry. I'm not deleting this story, but like I said, I'm lost and upset about this story.


	15. Past is Past

You know, I thought of something. How could someone tell me I was mary-suing? I mean, Nezhul is far from perfect. Now, had it been Kagome and Sango, and they had been perfect (as so many authors do) you would have said, cool, if not a little OOC. Anyway, We have 103 REVIEWS! I love your support guys! Your the best! (Wish I had the money to give u all something, but thats alot of reviewers, and I have what? 10$?) So, as my gift, an extra long chapter with some insight to Nezhul's life.

A large group of people were congregated at the gate, most likely all waiting to hear the news from them. When they saw Nezhul slung over Sasuke's shoulder, the entire party rushed to greet them. Ino, Kagome, Sango, Hinata and Sakura in the lead. They all raced in suspense, and to Sasuke's ever growing amusement, Nezhul was playing dead. The girls arrived, and began to cry softly. That is, until Nezhul lifted her head and flashed a peace sign, winking playfully. "Miss me?" she asked, then dodged Kagome's angry slap, and ignored Sango's angry accusations, instead foccusing on Ino and Sakura's light giggles of joy, and Hinata's red face, and adorable stammering. Nezhul almost shoved out of his grip, but was reminded not-so-subtly that her legs were broken. "Hey, can you guys get me to the hospital? As much as I love to get yelled at and dodge slaps, it's not on my to-do list for today." she said, grinning at their flustered looks. Man, she was happy to be alive. She was only 15, having so much in her life to look forward to. Suddenly she felt herself crying, too overwhelmed to speak, her happiness caught in her throat. Sasuke gave her a weird look, but ignored her otherwise.

_Wicked grins and red eyes, blood splattered everywhere she could see. Her parents bodies littered the ground, and her sister was glaring at her. "W-What did you do, HeiLin?" she heard her shaky voice ask. She sounded so young and fragile. "They did it again, Nezhul. I couldn't take them beating us anymore, and when I heard what they were going to do to us..." HeiLin had whispered. "Why? WHY!" Nezhul screamed. Her heart ached, torn between her sister and her parents. "What do you mean? We're free now Nezhul. They can't hurt us anymore." HeiLin seemed truly confused now, trying to grasp why her sister wasn't accepting what she had done. "We aren't free you stupid girl! We're in deeper shit than ever!" Nezhul had yelled. Her sister let few tears escape before she glared at Nezhul. "Then you can join them, you ungrateful witch!" HeiLin screamed, and hurled herself onto Nezhul. Instincts kicked in and Nezhul flipped HeiLin, driving HeiLins own weapon through her chest. Hollow red eyes glared into space, as a heartwrenching scream tore from HeiLins throat. _

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" She woke in a sweat, as fear and pain gripped her mind. Suddenly she heard a knock at her door. Composing herself, she watched with interest as Kagome and Sango came in dragging Kakashi, Shikamaru, and Sasuke. "Hey guys!" she said, grinning at them. "Hey Nezhul! We thought we'd visit. We'll be back in a sec with some good food ok?" Kagome said, and left the boys with the bored girl.

"You guys...I have a question. Whats sex?" she asked, mentally smirking at their flushed faces. "Er...you see Nezhul..." Kakashi started, sweatdropping. "When a man and woman love eachother very much...Sasuke, you tell her." he gave up, turning to the Uchiha. Sasuke easily found a banana and a bagel. He picked them both up and sighed. "Well, a man has a penis and a woman has a vagina. In order to have normal sex, the man places the penis inside the vagina." he said, putting the bannana through the bagel, not expecting the banana to blow up in a big mess. "Then the penis blows up?" Nezhul asked, eyes wide. "Er...no, but sperm comes out of it. This is used to make a woman pregnant." he said. "And are they really bannana shaped?" Nezhul asked, glancing down. Sasuke felt heat rise to his cheeks in a blush, and forced it back down. _'Why me?_' he thought. "There are ways to prevent pregnancy though. The man can wear a condom, or the woman could take birth control pills or have an obortion." he said. Nezhuls eyebrows shot up. "Obortion?" she asked. "Thats when the baby is removed sergically." Sasuke said. "Just a few questions then." Nezhul said, and unknown to the shinobi's, a wicked gleam overtook her eyes. "Shikamaru...do you have sex with women?" she asked, watching as Shika almost face-faulted. "No." he answered. "Then you have sex with men?" she asked, and he stared with wide eyes. "No." he said, irratated. "Oh, so you masterbate." she said, crossing her arms over her chest. Shikamaru left the room with this. Nezhul turned to Kakashi. "Kakashi-sensei, do you have sex with women?" she asked. Kakashi knew where the conversation would go, so he answered "Yes." proud he had outwitted her. "Tsk tsk tsk Kakashi. Sango won't be happy to hear that." she said. Kakashi grew flustered and also left the room. "Sasuke, do you have sex with women?" she asked. "No." he said. "Men?" "No." Masterbate?" "No." he answered them all stoically. Nezhul huffed, but then grinned. "So are you a eunuch then?" she asked. Sasuke would have left the room if Kagome and Sango hadn't appeared. He then noticed the wicked grin Nezhul was sporting, and realized she was about to do something.

"Kagome, Sango? Whats sex?" she asked. Sango and Kagome's eyes narrowed. "Where'd you hear that word?" they asked. "Oh, Shikamaru and Kakashi were talking all about it!" she said brightly. _'Note to self: Nezhul is very very evil. More evil than Naruto.'_ Sasuke thought, watching as if on cue, Kakashi and Shikamaru walk back in the room, only to be met with Sango and Kagome's screaming. And, of course, Nezhul's hysterical laughter, which turned her two friends death glares onto her. Gulping, she said a meek "Er...gotcha?"

Needless to say, the boys wouldn't be shocked if she was deaf after today.

As punishment, Nezhul was banned from any visitors until she healed. Which, unfourtunatly, left her to her memories.

_''I wanna be a bounty hunter, and I want you to train me!" a young Nezhul said to the tall woman. Heated grey eyes glared down at her small form, and Nezhul thought that the old lady was trying to melt her or something. "Very well. If you can pick two hundred berries from this thorn bush without giving up, I will train you." the woman said, pointing to the huge bush. Nezhul couldn't see any berries, which meant she would have to reach into the bush. Gulping, she thrust her hand in, only to be met with intense pain. _

_It was twelve hours later that her 'sensei' came to check up on her. She found Nezhul with 190 berries, and her hands a sticky bloody mess. Her hands were practically torn raw, not much skin left on them. "You should take a break." the woman suggested. "Iie sensei. You yourself said that breaks were for babies and weaklings, and that you'd never train a weakling. I'm not going to stop until I have all the berries." she said. Her sensei didn't come back for another hour, and when she found Nezhul, she was unconcious from bloodloss, with all 200 berries._

_''Sorry sensei. I fell." Nezhul said, wincing as her sensei cleaned the cuts all over her. She had just turned ten, and wanted to go for a walk when a demon attacked her. She had tried to use her training to her advantage, but tripped and got hurt. "It's alright Nezhul. What a birthday, huh?" her sensei asked lightheartedly, and smiled when Nezhul giggled slightly._

_"You want me to jump off a cliff?" Nezhul asked. She was 12 now, and staring at her sensei in shock. "I want to see how easily your bones will shatter." the old woman said. Nezhul closed her eyes and jumped._

She winced at the memory, then laughed slightly. She had gotten stronger after _that_ little incident, seeing as she didn't brake as many bones this time.

_"Sensei?" Nezhul asked, staring at the dying woman. "You've grown strong Nezhul. You're 14 now, and ready to become a hunter. It was my time anyway." her sensei had been attacked, and Nezhul had come just in time to kill the demon, and hear her sensei's last words. "I'm proud of you. Now I want you to continue to grow strong, both physically and mentally." her sensei had said. Nezhul vowed on her life to make her sensei proud._

_"Are you crazy?" the now 15 year old Nezhul asked, staring at the shogun. "No, you will become one of my statues, my pet." he said, and Nezhul shuddered. "Your a freak." she said, and was slapped by the insulted shogun. She glared as she spat blood, and she was dragged away._

"Heh, thats how I got into this whole mess." she muttered as she remebered the day she was captured. Sighing softly she looked out the window, watching everyone go about their daily lives.

END!

Ok, you got some comedy, and some insight to Nezhul's past. And, hopefully, a longer chapter.

Review!


	16. Future is Now

Staring out the window, Nezhul sighed. She was bored. Really, really, bored. Kagome was out on a date, which, to be honest, Nezhul was happy for her. In her mind, Kagome and Shikamaru were meant to be. Getting off that subject, she also figured Kakashi and Sango were also meant to be, in her opinion. Sighing, she realized that everyone else seemed to be in a relationship. Except, of course, her. And maybe Ino...Hinata was with the dog boy, Sakura had hooked up with Naruto, Kagome and Shikamaru, some other people she really didn't care to name, or didn't know, Sango and Kakashi, some more people, and that was it. Well, she didn't want jelousy, it was pathetic and lead to hatred and other bad things. Sighing, she kept comfortably in her hospital bed that she had grown to really dislike. She tried to sit up but her legs forbid the movement, the dull ache a bitter reminder of the incident a little over two weeks ago. Sighing, as she seemed to be doing this alot lately, she crossed her eyes and shook her head, trying to rid herself of her boredom. "Jingle bells, jingle bell's, jingle all the way!" she muttered, singing the christmas carol that she just couldn't get out of her head. She heard a knock at her door and almost found herself glaring at it, thinking it was another nurse. She shuddered at the thought. All the nurses thought she was the 'most adorable little girl they'd ever seen!' and she hated it. first of all, she wasn't a 'little girl' and second of all, she was not 'adorable' and thirdly...she did _not_ _like_ being glomped. "Are you gonna let me in or not?" she perked up at Sasuke's voice. "COME IN AND SAVE ME FROM THE NURSES!" She yelled, waving her arms franticly. Right as he walked in, to her embarresment, she fell off the bed from moving around too much. Pushing herself up slightly, she hid her cherry red face from view as best she could. He shook his head in amsement when he saw her. She almost growled when she noticed this. "What the hell are you laughing about! Help me up!" she said, pouting slightly. He smirked and helped her up and back on to the bed. Still pouting, she crossed her arms over her chest and looked away. Soon though, she found her eyes wandering back to him against her own will, as her curiousity took over. "You're not allowed to be here, remember? I was banned from public interaction until I learned my lesson." she said, stifling a giggle when she recalled the little talk she had had while in the hospital. "Who says I'm not allowed to come here?" he said, cocking an eyebrow. Nezhul shrugged. "I thought you'd be the most angry with me, since you were the one who explained it all, no matter how...akward it was. Really Sasuke, the banana exploding was classic, I'll have you know." she said, smirking. He looked away embarassed. "I can go if you would prefer that." he said, and the girl began shaking her head furiously. He smirked at her reaction, when she suddenly grabbed her head, giggling dizzily. "Oooh, pretty stars! Wait a minute..." she shook her head again to clear the stars, but it only made it worse. She almost fell off the bed but Sasuke tried to save her, causing them both to go down. Her head banged painfully into his and they sat there for a minute, painfully aware of the dull throb in their heads. Nezhul opened her eyes slowly to meet his, and she blused again. "I'm so sorry..." she muttered. Sasuke just smirked. "Your such a clutz." he muttered, helping her up. She simply shugged as if admitting that she was a clutz. "So, why are you here?" she asked. He didn't answer that.

He had left an hour after dark, and she sat in her room. She had a bad feeling about tonight. Sure enough, half an hour later, her window was flung open and two people bust in. HeiLin and another girl. "HeiLin, take your little girlfriend and GET OUT!" Nezhul screamed angrily. "I'm a BOY!" the other girl... er...boy screamed. "Ok then. HeiLin, take your little _boy_friend and GET OUT!" she said, this time a little angrier. "He is NOT MY BOYFRIEND!" HeiLin screamed. Nezhul sighed and rubbed her temples. "OK! HeiLin, please take your friend that just so happens to be a boy but is NOT your boyfriend, and GET THE HELL OUT NOW! Please?" she was really angry now. HeiLin laughed harshly. "No dear sister, I won't." she said. "Aw, aren't you pretty, I could just tear that pretty little face right off!" the boy said, stoking her face gently. Nezhul angrily backhanded him across the face, making sure to graze her knuckles harshly against his cheek. "Don't ever touch me, piece of filth!" she growled out. The man growled, then slapped her angrily and painfully. Nezhul smirked, coughing up blood. "Really, is that all you got, prissy boy? Back when I was younger, there were 3 year olds that packed more punch than that." she said, looking back up. He noticed something rather disturbing then. Black stripe-like lines began to appear on her face and body, and her eyes had turned a little more feral. "Ah...I forgot about that Nezhul. The curse our dear mother gave us... We're leaving." she said, stalking off quickly. The man almost slapped Nezhul again, but a clawed hand caught the fist he'd sent and squeezed painfully, blood pooling from the claw marks. The man stared in horror at the nails that hadn't been there before. "I'd sugesst you leave now. It's not polite to just barge in on someone. Go before I make you." she said, grinning wickedly. Twisting his arm one final time, she released him and she passed out immediatly afterwards.

Ok...sorry about the really late and really short chapter. This gave you a little insight on an old family secret of Nezhul's. If you'll remember in the second chapter it said that Nezhul had claws. No, Nezhul isn't a demon...you'll find out more about this family curse later though.


	17. Freedom

Nezhul flexed her clawed hand the next morning painfully as the claws slowly retracted. She had a terrible headache, and she couldn't see properly yet. Growning as she clutched at her head, she shook it gently, a few tears slipping down her face. Wiping them away angrily, she mentally berated her weakness. Sighing as she felt the pain subside, she took a few panting breaths. "Whoever the hell he was, he better watch out..." she muttered angrily, her eyes flashing once more before she returned to normal. Popping her back akwardly, she looked out the window to see it was raining cat's and dogs. She smirked. She loved the rain...too bad she couldn't go out and play. Grinning amused, she realized that when she thought that, she sounded like a 5 year old. Although she had no problems with her apparent immaturity. Grinning like mad, she began to hum an old chinese song she remembered about the zodiac. It was about how the quickwitted but wicked rat tricked the kind but stupid cat. She didn't know why she was humming that though, it angered her about how the cat was tricked. No, she wasn't a cat, but she still felt angry that the poor thing was hurt and tricked so badly. Stopping the song at that though, she decided to make one of her own.

(PS: Things in parentesis are Nezhul's thoughts.)

_'The wicked rat,_

_The conniving beast...(uh...what next...)_ she thought, still trying to think up the song

_The poor little cat,_

_Who was denied a feast. (I'm not very good at ryming...T-T)_

_The outraged cat,_

_When he heard the news,_

_Ate the rat,_

_And left no clues!'_

Feeling extremely proud of herself, she hummed it over and over and over. Finally she began to get mixed up, then she just stopped altogether. Sighing, she began clicking the red button that called the nurses to her, she hit it repeatedly. Nurses rushed in. "What do you need?" they asked franticly. "I'm bored." Nezhul said with a sheepish grin. The nurses sighed and shook their heads. She did this alot, and each time, much to her delight, the nurses would glomp her less and less. Infact, some of the glomps even felt like strangle holds. "Can I walk yet?'' she asked the nurses. One of her favorite nurses, Shizune, looked slightly worried, but defeated. "Well, you can try...I think your legs should be fine now...I think." she said. Nezhul needed no further convincing as she flung the covers off. Her legs felt like jelly, and she groaned at the prospect of training her legs mucles again, seeing as it took alot of running and tree climbing. Oh well, she could probably train recruits as she trained herself, she thought. Streching the sore and unused mucles, she grinned in sheer delight. "I'M FREEEEEEEEE!" she screamed, waving her arms around happily. Shizune hid her shock with a smile and a nervous laugh. Nezhul was already running out of the room, jumping and celebrating.

"FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Shizune could still hear the yelling, and Nezhul had already left the building.

Ino and Hinata were sick and tired of the lazy nin at the Farming Department. None of the nin had worked a day since Nezhul's injury, and they'd tried rather hard to make them work. From Hinata's quiet encouragement to Ino's loud rants, none of it worked. "I'M FREEEEEEE!" They heard a scream. Eyes widening, they raced off to see their friend running down the street waving her arms energetically and screaming. Both quickly began to chase her. "Wait NEZHUL! WE NEED YOUR HELP!" they ended up chasing her ten laps around the village. "How does she have so much friggin energy! NEZHUL DAMN YOU! I DEMAND YOU STOP YOU DEMENTED CHILD FROM HELL!" Ino screamed. Nezhul stopped and turned around, looking confused. "Did you need something Ino?" she asked, cocking her head slightly. Ino walked over slowly and wrapped her hands around Nezhul's neck, then began to furiously shake her back and forth. Hinata began stammering nervously, and Nezhul simply let Ino shake her, too stunned to react. "HOW DARE YOU RUN 10 LAPS! YOU EVIL LITTLE DEVIL INCARNATE! IT'S UNNATURAL TO RUN THAT MUCH!" Ino screamed. "It's unnatural to scream that loud..." Nezhul muttered, pressing her hands to her ears and shaking herself out of Ino's grasp. "I'm deaf!" she said dramatically, placing a hand on her forehead. "Yup, I'm definately deaf. I'm burning up! See, Feel!" she said. Ino sweatdropped. "Nezhul...your an idiot." she said, and Nezhul giggled, flashing the peace sign. "But you still love me!" she said, wrapping her arms around Ino's neck and hugging her from behind. Unfourtunatly, Nezhul was shorter than Ino and it threw them off balance, sending both crashing to the floor. Ino huffed and glared at the giggling Nezhul. "So, what did you guys need?" Nezhul asked. "Oh... well...'' Ino started, getting an evil look on her face.


	18. Heart in Ice

Hi again, another stupid note about an idea I came up with!

It will be a parody on Encaged in Ice, with the same characters, and basic plot line. (most beautiful women being encaged in ice by shogun) However, it will be AU for the Inuyasha characters. (sorta...) I want to make a Geisha fic, ever since reading Memoirs of a Geisha. (good book, much different from movie.) and I wanted my Encaged in Ice plotline to be used for it. And it's not like I'm going to delete Encaged, it's too fun too write! But instead of being an action-type story with fights and stuff, it will be a little more peaceful and romantic. Another thing is, the pairings can be any pairings you want in this one! It doesnt have to be lets say...Naruto and Sakura. (Which means, for any of you who wanted Naru to be paired with another girl, he can!) The characters will act the same in this new story, except Kagome won't be a priestess, Sango wont be a demon slayer, and Nezhul won't be a bounty hunter. (or cursed for that matter.) Anyway...the first few chapters will be well in the works soon. Hope you read it, Oh and I thought I'd do a prieview, though it starts much like Encaged in ice.

_**Hundreds of years ago, in a mystifying time where wars waged violenty and seized the entire land in it's steely grip, there began a ledgend. A shogun, one of the most powerful there was at the time, begun to have a facionation with Geisha. Throwing around his mighty power, he began to call upon hundreds of okiya to send their most beautiful of Geisha, but these women weren't enough. He began to call upon women of all kinds, from simple peasents to nobles, to be part of his collection of beautiful women. He was content with the women simply being in his domain, but slowly he began to realize that they would soon lose their beauty to age, and they would soon wither and die. He did not want to lose his most valued treasure, his women that he adored so much that he would rather die himself that to let their beauty perish. So he devised a plan...**_

If you want to read the rest, you have to wait for the first chapter, with will probably be called something like... Hearts in Ice...or make suggestions!


	19. Attack On Konoha! Part 1

I'm so sorry guys, I'm suffering from slight writers block, but I decided I love you all so much that I need to get back my inspiration, so onto the story! Oh, BTW, for all those who didn't read Hearts in Ice, I have pictures of Nezhul and will send them to anyone who wants them, so just ask and I'll send them!

START!!!

Nezhul seemed to be angry when Ino told her about the slacking farmer nins. Immediatly she demaded a meeting to be held. Ino and Hinata scurried away, gathering up all of the lazy nin. Nezhul walked out when they were all assembled. "HI!" she said, waving happily to everyone. They all seemed to be unnerved at her cheerful mood, but responded with a meek hello. "How has everyone been? Good? No one been sick or injured?" she asked. They all responded with a suspicious no. "Good!" she said. Suddenly flames seemed to errupt from behind her and she towered over them all, despite her short stature. "THEN WHY THE HELL IS THERE NO FLIPPIN CROPS?!" she yelled, waving her arms wildly, eyes closed as she seemed to throw a fit for a second. She took a huge breath and let it out in a mushroom sigh. Opening her eyes, she noticed everyone seemed to be shocked. Smiling sheepishly, she blushed slightly. "Er...sorry." she said, but then the flames appeared again. "Wait, no I'm not! DANGIT! STOP STARING AT ME AND GET TO WORK!!!" she demanded. Everyone besides Ino and Hinata scrambled. "Geeze Nezhul. Moodswings much?" she asked. Nezhul chuckled. "As Kagome would say 'Eh...he needed to get up off his ass, I just pushed him in the right direction!" Nezhul said in a perfect voice imitation. Ino seemed unnerved by this. "Have you been practicing mocking people again?" she asked. Nezhul just smiled innocently. "Who? Me? Well, I never!" she said, but then burst into giggles. (BTW: If you didn't get it, Kagome had said that to Shikamaru) Ino shrugged and walked off. As soon as she was gone however, Nezhul made a funny face, crossing her eyes and shaking her butt wildly. "Have you been practicing mocking people again?" she said in a very Ino like voice, then almost fell over laughing.

"KAGOME!" Kagome recognized that voice. Eyes widening, she turned only to be tackled by a very farmiliar white haired bounty hunter. "I got an idea!" she said. Kagome rolled her eyes. _'Now that's new.'_ she thought sarcastically. "What is it?" she asked, almost dreading the answer. "Well, since you left me at the hospital for so long, all alone might I add, You should buy me ice cream!" she exclaimed. Kagome groaned. _'If I treat her to ice cream, I'll go broke!'_ she thought, but then sighed when Nezhul did her puppy pout. "Alright fine." she said. "YAY! Hey, let's go find Sango and make her pay half of it!" she said. Kagome grinned. _'Now **that** I can handle!' _ she thought, already planning on making Sango pay the bill.

"Thanks guys!" Nezhul exclaimed, enjoying her chocolate chip cookie dough icecream. "You guys are the best..." she said after a little while. Kagome smiled as the three friends sat on a park bench, watching the sunset over the dark blue lake in front of them. "You know, when I first came here...I was almost positive it would suck, but it turned out great!" Nezhul said. Sango smiled. "Yeah...our time here in Konoha was one of the best things thats happened to me for a long time." she said. Nezhul seemed nostalgic for some reason, saddened almost. "Would...would you guys miss me? If I left or died?" she asked. It dawned on Kagome. "You're afraid HeiLin might kill you?" she asked. Nezhul looked up at the night sky. "No...I'm not afraid of her killing me. I'm afraid I'll freeze up and I won't be able to kill her. I feel terrible about everything I did to her. I always endured our parents easily enough, but I didn't know just how much it affected her. I never thought that she would...well, you know." Nezhul said. Sango nodded sypathetically. "Yeah...I know how you feel Nezhul. It's hard, but you'll do the right thing." Sango said. Nezhul seemed to perk up at that, smiling brilliantly while still looking up at the sky. She looked back down and smiled at the two, hugging the both of them unecpectedly. "Thanks guys..." she said, then went home. Kagome turned to Sango, seemingly unnerved. "What do you thin she really meant?" Kagome asked Sango, cocking her head worriedly. Sango shook her head sadly. "I don't know Kagome-chan...I really don't know." she said softly. Kagome sighed and looked toward the lake, lost in her thoughts.

The next morning Kagome awoke to loud banging at her door, and two worried voices screaming in. "KAGOME WAKE UP!" she heard Nezhul's voice pleading worriedly. She dashed out of her room, not even bothering to change. "Whats wrong?" she asked, flinging the door open. "We're under attack!" Sango practically screeched. Kagome noticed that Sango and Nezhul were dressed for battle, Nezhul wearing her bra-like armor, spiked shoulder armor and her black hakama that hung loosely until it reached the calf, where banages held it tightly to her. Nezhul had bought it a month ago, it had reminded her of her sensei. She also carried her naginata and her sword. Sango was in her cat suit, her hiraikotsu slung over her shoulder. Kagome scurried into the house, almost slipping on the hard wood floors as she franticly searched for her bow. Slinging her full quiver over her shoulders and grabbing her bow and some extra kunai and shuriken, she ran back out to the awating girls. "We have to go to Tsunadde and defend the Hokage tower. Everyone else is either at the gates or just running rampant, trying to find something to do that could help. Hurry!" Sango comanded. They ran as fast as they could to the Hokage Tower. Nezhul was slightly ahead, seeing as she was the fastest of the three. Suddenly she turned a corner and Sango and Kagome were surprised to see her thrown back a few feet. The two girls ran to her and helped her to her feet. All three looked up to see...

_Crimson_.

END!

Ok, the end of Encaged in Ice Season 1 is almost here! In the next season everyone is going to be 18, got it? Anyway, I think I'm going to delete Hearts in Ice and use the title for season two. Anyone who doesn't want that, tell me now.


	20. Attack On Konoha! Part 2

HI! Next part is out! Attack on Konoha! Part 2. Oh, and some major parts on Nezhul's curse is revealed in this. Heh heh, I'll give you three guesses on what happens in the curse. Hint, It has something to do with what she looks like.

START!

A man stared down at the three girls. "Who are you?" Kagome asked. He glared at her viciously. "He's an enemy!" Nezhul said growling. Suddenly a man that looked like a shark appeared. "Itachi!" he said. "Wah! There's more!" Nezhul said, surprised. "Who are you?" he asked. "We don't have to tell you, sushi-man!" Nezhul said, turning her flute into the naginata. "You're going to fight us, little girl?" Itachi asked. Nezhul grinned. "Well no duh! I can't just let you destroy this village!" she said, launching herself at him. Kisame blocked her, however, and smirked. Swinging his gigantic sword down at her, he smirked triumphantly when she moved to the left. Lifting the sword swiftly, he swung at her side faster than she could blink. Kisame had, however, underestimated her speed and she dodged, swinging her naginata. He dodged, startled, but he was slow and ended up being cut. Kagome and Sango, meanwhile, attacked Itachi. Sango launched her hiraikotsu, while Kagome shot off arrows with rapid succession. Itachi dodged it all however, so Sango decided on close quaters combat. Catching the Hiraikotsu, she darted toward him and swung it towrd his head. He jumped back and while he was in the air she launched the weapon again, this time managing to hit him slightly, but he flung himself back before it could do any real damage. Sango charged again, taking out her katana. Stopping suddenly, she allowed Nezhul to go soaring past her, yelling something along the lines of "NO FAIR!" as she passed. Sango chuckled, then charged again. Narrowly dodging an arrow, she glared at Kagome, who smiled sheepishly. "Uh...Oops?" she said, then returned to her battle. Sango grumbled and charged again, and at this point Itachi had an eyebrow raised in disbelief at the 'teamwork' these three had. They didn't work together at all! Suddenly he heard a growl as Nezhul launched herself into him ful force, while Sango ran right past him and attacked Kisame. Looks like they had switched opponents. Dodging the naginata, he growled in frusteration as he narrowly dodged an arrow. Looks like he was wrong about the teamwork thing. He watched as Nezhul backed up and whispered something to Kagome, who nodded. Both girls put their weapons down and put their hands together while Sango seemed to naturally move infront of them to defend. Both girls began preforming a jutsu in rapid succession. Finishing the seals simeltaniously, they liften one leg and slammed it back down, bringing a huge chunk of earth up. Both girls spun to gain momentum then kicked the boulders powerfully, sending them soaring toward Itachi and Kisame. Sango Ducked on instinct, as the two clumps of earth merged and formed large spikes that were hurtling toward the enemy ninja. Itachi preformed his jutsu fast. "Grand Fireball Jutsu!" he said, burning the spikes. However, he hadn't expected the second attack, the huge water dragon flying at him. Apparently, the first jutsu had been a cover-up. It hit dead on, sending Itachi and Kisame flying in the rushing waters of the dragon. Nezhul sighed in releif as she fell over, exhausted from the huge chakra use. Kagome was also wobbling on her feet, and Sango was standing up shakily, her arms and legs sore. "Impressive, but now it's our turn." Kisame's cold voice called from behind. Nezhul looked back only to be sent flying by a powerful blow. Spitting out the blood, she glared at him. "Cheater! That was a cheap shot!" she yelled, pointing at him. He smirked. "All's fair in the life of a shinobi, girl." he said, turning on Kagome. He swung a powerful uppercut, hitting her jaw and sending her flying into a nearby tree. Kagome slumped down, unconcious. Sango glared, sending her hiraikotsu flying toward them. Itachi merely deflected it, and it hit Sango square on the chest, pinning her to a tree nearby. "It's just you now, kiddo." Kisame said. Nezhul's head was bowed, and a dark blue aura was surrounding her. "Heh heh heh. I guess you're right." she said in a dark voice. Looking up at them, they were shocked to see the cat like slits in her eyes, or the feral glint they held. Black striped formed across her body, along with claws and fangs. "What are you?!" Kisame asked. Nezhul grinned sadisticly, sending chills up his spine. "My name is Nezhul." she said darkly and another voice seemed to talk along with her, a voice so evil it made Naraku sound like a baby. Her bangs shadowing her eyes slightly, and she grinned in an insane way, her large fangs glinting, giving her an ominous look. She crouched down on all fours, swaying in a catlike way. Suddenly she dissapeared. "Where is she?" Kisame asked himself, looking around. "Above." he heard her say. Looking up, he didn't see her. "Or below?" she added, her arms shooting out of the earth, giving it the look of the dead rising. She swung her fist, catching him in the stomach. Unclenching her fist she dug her nails into his stomach, delighted as the blood dripped down her fingers. Suddenly she was wrenched away from him and sent soaring through the air. Flipping so she'd land on her feet, she landed in a crouch, her legs almost split, one hand on the floor and one holding her forgotten naginata. Jumping back up, she threw the naginata at Itachi, then tore after it. As soon as he dodged it she caught it and swung toward his head, catching him off guard. He knocked her away before it could connect, and she snarled at him. Standing back up, she growled animalistically. Licking her lips, she charged again, only one coherrent thought in her posessed mind. _'I gotta protect them!'_ diving toward Kisame, who was dangerously close to Kagome, she knocked him away with a powerful kick to the jaw. Suddenly she felt a Kunai tear threw her hand. Screaming in pain, she turned toward Itachi and Kisame. (he landed by Itachi.) Twisting the injured hand, she put her teeth around the handle and wrenched it out of her hand, blood splattering the floor. Taking the kunai in her other hand, she flung it at them as hard as she could before collapsing to the ground. _'I'm so sorry guys...'_ was her last thought before she slipped into unconciousness.

It was then that Sango woke up, clutching her sore ribs. Kagome also woke up, but stayed against the tree trying to gather her bearings. Sango charged as she saw Kisame swinging his sword toward Nezhul's unconcious form, making it just in time to block the potentially fatal blow. She still felt weak, however, and Kisame sent her flying with a powerful punch. Sango hit a tree with a painful crack. Kisame approached Kagome now, who sat fearfully. Suddenly the Hiraikotsu hurtled past, stopping him from reaching his destination. "I'm not done yet!" Sango yelled, charging with her katana drawn.

Kagome watched in horror as once again, Sango was sent flying into a tree. At this rate, her friend would die. Tears welled up in Kagome's eyes as she watched. Nezhul still hadn't moved from her spot, and Kagome was afraid she would bleed to death with all the blood that was pouring from her hand. Kagome was terrified of the situation. She felt all of her adventures in the fuedal era coming back to her. All those times her friends had been hurt because she _was just too weak._ "I...don't want to be weak anymore..." she whispered. _'I'm always the weak link, the one everyone has to protect. I'm just a burden... I don't want to burden you guys anymore. I want to prove what I'm worth. I'm sick of people thinking I'm weak, I'm sick of being weak. I'M SICK OF IT!'_ she thought. She saw Sango get sent flying into a tree. She didn't think she'd be able to get up again. Nezhul had stirred, and was pushing herself up weakly, leaning against a tree for support, prepared to make a last stand. Sango was also pushing herself into a sitting postion, ready to give her life to save her. Kagome stood angrily and took out her bow. "I'm sick and tired of watching you hurt my friends. They've had their turns, now it's mine!" she yelled, firing a spiritually charged arrow. Kagome had never fired an arrow with that much power behind it. The two dodged, but too late. The arrow hit the ground and exploded, sending both nin flying. She fired more, debris flying everywhere.

"Kagome..." Nezhul whispered weakly, tears welling up in her eyes. She smiled proudly. "You'll make an excellent warrior." she said as the tears streaked down her smiling face. She suddenly cheered up immensly, throwing her arms in the air. "YOU GO KAGOME! SHOW EM WHAT YOUR MADE OF!" she cheered, smiling happily. Sango had crawled over to her and the two smiled weakly at eachother. "How are you doing?" Nezhul asked. Sango frowned. "I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to stay concious. I took too many blows to the head, but if I fall asleep I might die or go into an acoma from the concussion." Sango said. Nezhul grabbed her hand sadly. "That makes two of us. If I don't get treatment soon, I'll bleed to death." she said, frowning. "Well, let's not worry Kagome ok?" Sango said. Nezhul nodded, and tears welled up in both girls eyes. "You know Sango...I'm proud of Kagome. I only wish we could see her get married." Nezhul said. Sango looked to her. "Don't say things like that Nezhul. We'll make it through this." Sango said. Nezhul began to cry harder. "We can only hope Sango..." she whispered. Slowly both girls lost conciousness.

Kagome was hurt. She had a broken wrist, and her head was bleeding. She had a slice on her stomach, and was bleeding heavily. "No...I gotta stay with it. I can do this..." she said. Her knees wobbled, however, and collapsed. "I'm sorry guys..." she muttered, before losing conciousness. But just before she did, she heard worried yells. "KAGOME! SANGO! NEZHUL!"

Kagome woke up three weeks later in the intensive care unit. She noticed she was surrounded by other ninja who had been injured in the battle. She looked around worriedly, but saw no Nezhul or Sango. Standing up, she winced in pain as she walked out of the room, in search of medic nins. Finally she stumbled across a despondent Sasuke and a worried Kakashi. "Where are they?" Kagome asked. Sasuke didn't even look up, and Kakashi answered. "It's bad Kagome-chan...if you wouldn't have held off as long as you did, and if we didn't show up when we did, they would have surely died." he said. Kagome glared. "Where are they?!" she asked, this time angrily. Kakashi shook his head. "Their being treated Kagome. We can't go and see them yet." he said. Finally Sasuke looked up. "Tell me, who attacked you?" he asked. Kagome looked up, startled. "They called themselves Itachi and Kisame." she answered. Sasuke seemed angered at this and stormed off. "What's wrong with him?" Kagome asked. "Itachi was his older brother. He murdered the entire clan." Kakashi answered. "Oh..." she said, looking to Sasuke's back.

_'I wasn't stong enough to protect them!'_ Sasuke thought angrily. _'That's the second time shes almost died, and both of them were all my fault!'_ he practically yelled in his thoughts. He needed to get stronger to kill his brother, he needed to get stonger.

OK! Any guesses as to what Nezhul's curse is? Oh, and I think there will only be about two more chapters in this season, k? REVIEW!


	21. Decisions Descions End

It had been a week since Itachi's latest attack, and since then Sasuke has been despondent. Nezhul and Sango had woken up, but were still in the hospital, confined to their beds. He had been to visit them both, and both times all had really payed attention too was all the IV's connected to Nezhul, all the bandages wrapped around Sango, all the pills they were forced to take to dull the throbbing pain. He wouldn't even go to the hopital if Kagome hadn't conviced him that it made them feel better to have friends visit. Sango was pretty happy most of the time, but something seemed to be on Nezhul's mind. She always had a strange look in her eyes, and Sasuke knew that look for he had expirenced it upon his own features many times. She wanted to grow stronger at all costs. One night, when everyone else was gone and Sango long asleep, he had a surprisingly deep discussion with her.

_Flashback_

_"You...want power don't you?" she had asked, somewhat timidly. He nodded. "Why?" she asked. "To kill my brother." he had answered. She had smiled sadly. "Sasuke... I want power too." she said. He looked at her in surprise. "But we must be careful Sasuke. Power often corrupts the mind. We should be careful not to lose ourselves in our greedily pure intentions." she whispered so quietly he almost hadn't heard the sad statement. "So...you know?" he asked. She let tears flow gently down her face. "I really wish there was another way Sasuke, but I understand just how badly you want him dead. Just be careful, and make sure your positive that this is the right desicion, ok?" she asked. He had nodded slowly, wondering how she had figured it out._

_End Flashback_

As he sat pondering over the memory, asking himself how she knew, the answer dawned on him. She also wanted power. And he knew what she was going to do to get it. So he'd wait for a little while to see her decision, and to think about his own.

Nezhul got out of the hospital a few days later, she had recovered enough to sneak out and Sasuke had only found her when she crashed into him two blocks from the hospital. She had grinned up at him and he helped her up. Together they walked to a nearby lake. They sat at the bench and stared dully at the lake. "How long until...you know..." Nezhul said. He sighed. "Three days, I still need a little time. You?" he asked. She looked at him. "I'm waiting for my escort." she said. He nodded, understanding. Nezhul suddenly began to laugh. "You know, this is the first conversation we've had that's been so..." she started. He smirked and finished for her. "Serious? That's because your immature." he said. She huffed and stuck her tongue out at him. "I'm not immature! Ok...well...maybe I am..." she said, then giggled and pushed him gently. "Maybe you should be immature too, it doesn't hurt, and maybe then you won't be so stingy!" she said. He rolled his eyes. "I'm not stingy." he said. She grinned and rolled her eyes. "Sure Sasuke. Just keep teeling yourself that." she said. He suddenly got a wicked gleam in his eyes and pushed her into the lake. She swam up sputtering, but then she began laughing as she yanked him in with her. _'Why am I being so nice to her? She's just another annoying girl.' _Sasuke thought as he shook off the water. _'It's probably because I don't want to think about it.'_ he thought, dunking her under the water. She gasped when she came back up, but by then he was already out of the water, smirking down at her. She glared, but then laughed and climbed out of the water. "I think we both needed that." she said with a sigh. He shrugged as they walked along the dirt path. "When will your escort arrive?" he asked. "Tomorrow morning." she said wistfully. She looked up at him. "Well, anyway, I better go..." she said. He nodded and they both split up. As Sasuke walked along, he heard a weird noise behind him. Turning only to be tackled down, he sighed as Nezhul giggled and hugged him tightly. "I'll see ya again someday!" she said. He rolled his eyes and shoved her off. "Your an idiot." he said. She glared. "Ya, and your a meanie!" she said, pointing accusingly at him. "Where'd you learn that insult? Kindergarten?" he asked. She turned away with her chin up, and arms crossed. "Well fine then, be that way!" she said, but after a moment she turned back around and smiled softly at him, then ran off.

The next day Nezhul woke to Kagome banging on her door. "Nezhul! You have some visitors! Their talking chineese and no one can understand anything besides your name! Hurry up!" Kagome yelled. Nezhul got up quickly and grabbed a blue backpack. Slinging it over her shoulder, she put an envelope on the table and grabbed her backpack. Steeling her face, she passed Kagome with not so much as a glance. Kagome walked into her room shocked. "She ignored me? And what was with the backpack? Something must be -Oh hello? Whats this?" she said, seeing the envelope. Opening it, she read over the contents.

_Dear Kagome and Sango,_

_By the time your reading this, I'll hopefully already be gone. I'm sorry to say that I made my desicion to leave and get more training. I realised that I'm too weak in my present state to kill HeiLin, and no shinobi can train me properly. A few days ago I made contact with a chinese hunter who I heard was very renowned. I asked for them to accept me as a student, and they accepted. I'm leaving for China, and I probably won't return to Konohakagure. Heh, isn't that cool? I learned how to spell the damn name! I hope you realise that I love you all dearly, and it brakes me up to have to do this. Even as I write this I'm crying. Do not think I'm abandoning you guys. I'm doing this only because of the recent attack. I can't bear to have HeiLin attack Konoha when we're weak, so in doing this, I'm leading her away. I hope that one day you will forget me and live a very happy and contented life with Shikamaru (I know you like him!) and have lots and lots of babies! (you're so good with kids!) _

_Sango, don't think I've forgotten about you. I hope you understand how difficult this desicion was to make. Your an excellent warrior and friend, and I'm positive you'll have a wonderful life (preferably with Kakashi) I've always held you in the utmost respect (you too Kagome) and I had always admired your serious and determined spirit. I can't hold a serious discussion for very long (as you can see in this letter) and admire the fact that your serious, but loving and gentle at the same time. I truly wish that circumstances were different, but alas, we must take what fate throws at us._

_Proverbial Hugs and Kisses,_

_Nezhul Qwan_

_Bounty Hunter_

_PS: Aren't you guys impressed I used so many big words? I wrote this letter all by my self! (Ha ha, not. I had to use the dictionary more times than I can count!)_

As Kagome finished the letter, she rushed out of the door, fearing that her friend was already gone. Reaching the spot where she had last seen the chinamen, she saw they were no longer there, and Nezhul had gone with them. She collapsed to her knees, letter still clutched in her hands, she began to cry. As if the angels were crying with her, it began to rain down, gently at first, but it grew more as it went along. Shikamaru found her an hour later and spent the whole night holding her tightly to him, comforting her as best he could. He couldn't explain why seeing Kagome crying made him sad, but all he knew is that it did, and he didn't like it. "Shh...Kagome, It's alright..." he said, kissing her foreead gently and rubbing gentle circles on her back. Kagome blushed when he kissed her, and snuggled deeper into his embrace, falling asleep in his arms.

When Sango got news of the letter she had immediatly went to a nearby forrest where she found Kakashi. He had been shocked to see her so upset. He approached her and caught her just before she collapsed onto her knees. Holding her to him to protect her from the rain, they stayed like that for what seemed like forever, but forever seemed to short to describe how long they felt safe and content, warm and loved.

Sasuke also left that night. Sakura had tried to stop him, but with no success. He had made up his mind to go to Orochimaru and recieve training, and he wouldn't let anyone stop him. He left Sakura on a park bench, tear stains still streaking her sleeping face. She had woken up the next day to Naruto's worried face, and immediatly clutched onto him, sobbing her eyes out into his shirt as he akwardly held the girl he had loved for so long.

END

THIS IS THE END OF ENCAGED IN ICE SEASON 1!!!

Now, hope you enjoyed the last chapter, there was a lot to take in, I know.

Hope you guys liked the first season, and I hope you review about it. The next season will be titled something like "Encaged in Fire" because this is the part where it really heats up. It'll have more lovey dovey parts, more action, and more adventures for the cast. Oh, and one more thing, the next season is taking place THREE YEARS FROM NOW! In other words, Kagome and all the 15 year olds will be 18, Sango will be 21, Kakashi will be 25 (Can we just make him 25? Otherwise he'd be too damn old!) Anyway, I added as much romance as I could in this last chapter because I figured I had depraved my readers to really any romance. Oh, and here is a preivew for the next story,

Encaged in Fire:

Kagome was currently on a double date with Sango, who was enjoying a plate of sushi. Kagome herself had ordered Soba and chicken, and Shikamaru oredered riceballs while Kakashi got dumplings. They were enjoying a pleasent coversation, with Kagome casually arguing with Shikamaru, and Sango accusing Kakashi of being a pervert.

"Shikamaru, you lazy bum, I told you not to mess with the dog, but no! So I hate to say it, but I told ya so!" Kagome said playfully. Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "I don't recall you saying not to mess with the dog. Infact, I remember you saying that I _should_ play with it, and second of all, you loved to say I told ya so, and you know it." he said. Kagome shook her head. "I never said you should pull the dogs tail, or it's mouth. Playing with a dog consits of fetch and tag! So it's not my fault Akamaru bit you!" she said. "I never said it was your fault. You just assumed I would think that and therefore began this entirely pointless and troublesome conversation." he said. "Pointless? Troublesome? You think spending time with me is _troublesome_?!" she asked. His eyes widened and he turned urgently. "N-No!" he said, but the glared when Kagome burst into giggles. "Kagome, you really need to stop doing that." he said, shaking his head and causing her to only laugh harder.


	22. The End of Kage Youkai

Yes, it is exactly how you've read it. This is the End of Kage Youkai as you know me. I will be starting fresh, as a new and improved author, with new material and better plots and writing skills.

No convincing me other wise. So, soon enough my stories will remain an unfinished house, and that is how they will stay; permanently. I really want to start fresh and clean, so I will.

Expect new material within the next two months, if all goes as planned.


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